Poketroid
by Gengario
Summary: A Pokemon trainer's journey and a bounty hunter's mission become intertwined when the planet Pocket finds itself in danger. But as it turns out, the danger may extend beyond Pocket itself...
1. Beginnings

"Command, this is the G.F.S. Artemis reporting. We're on a collision course with… something. Something very, very big. We have no idea what this thing is, but it's much bigger than a star. And that's putting it mildly. Anyways, it's too big to move away from. And too fast. We were probably good as dead already by the time it came up on the radar. We fired at it as a last resort, but as expected, that did no good. It'll crash into us within the next minute. I hope this message comes through – no one object should be this big, and I'd hate to get killed by it without anyone knowing. Maybe if you find out what the hell this thing is our deaths won't be in vain. Damn! Here it…. _What the…._"

That was the last anyone ever heard from the patrol ship G.F.S. Artemis.

Samus Aran finished listening to the transmission one final time, still trying to make sense of it. Deep in space, far away from anything else, she sat at the helm of her golden gunship, inhabited only by her and her computerized former Commanding Officer, Adam Malkovich. The gunship was in the exact location where the G.F.S. Artemis had been when it disappeared. Discovering the cause of this disappearance would be worth quite a bounty, even for a bounty hunter whom the Galactic Federation no longer trusted. But without any clues to follow, no attempt to do this could continue.

"No luck," said Samus, after running every scan and test she could think of. "There really is nothing here. Not even a scrap of metal. Whatever crashed into the Artemis took any hint that it and the ship were ever here with it." Though she had known this to be the likely outcome, she was nevertheless disappointed. She had hoped that if she managed to do something useful, the Federation might start being less hostile towards her. They had yet to redeem themselves in the Galactic Federation's eyes for the B.S.L. research station incident, when Samus and Adam had directly disobeyed Federation orders (and blown up the B.S.L. research station).

"I can't say it wasn't expected, unfortunately," said Adam. "Well, there's always next time."

* * *

Samus spent the next few months living the life she had grown accustomed to. She went from planet to planet, bounty to bounty, doing whatever needed to be done for however much money she could get from it. Usually, the missions involved petty criminals who needed to be found and captured – nothing even remotely difficult for Samus Aran, and she couldn't help but feel as if her life was becoming routine.

Then came "next time".

"The problem concerns a planet named Pocket," said Adam. "A very Earth-like planet whose colonization began less than sixty years ago. It is inhabited by creatures called Pocket Monsters, or Pokémon for short. You've heard of these creatures, correct?"

"I've heard of them," said Samus. "Can't say I know much about them, though."

"Pokémon research is the primary motive for human colonization of Pocket. But training Pokémon has now become at least as popular as researching them. Pokémon trainers capture the creatures in devices called Pokéballs, train them to fight to their full potential, and then make them compete against each other in battles."

"That's not very nice of the trainers," said Samus.

"Lady, I would not talk of kindness if I'd blown up as many planets as you have," said Adam. "Anyways, Pokémon can potentially be extremely powerful, and someone who both has mastered this potential and has control over it is not to be taken lightly. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the best trainers could defeat even you in battle, Lady."

"_I_ would be surprised," said Samus. "Are we talking about the same creatures here? Little yellow electric rodents and the like? Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm serious," said Adam. "Do not underestimate the power of Pokémon. Evil groups have attempted to use this power to achieve their own ends, from monetary gain to recreating the universe. It was fear of this power getting into the wrong hands which motivated the Federation to put up heavy defenses around Pocket. Any unauthorized object that comes too close to the planet is automatically shot down by turrets. Even natural bodies such as meteoroids, which are so abundant in the Pokésystem that they've become a vital part of many of Pocket's environments, are only spared from the turrets if they have been previously charted and observed.

"The problem at hand is that a group of Space Pirates seem to have set up a small base on Clef, Pocket's only moon. This moon is just outside of the sphere of space around Pocket protected by the Federation, so Pirate activity there is very suspicious. The Federation, though by all means it ought to have intervened, no longer sees the Space Pirates as a significant threat, at least not such a small amount of them near such a secure planet. They may think of this as only a minor concern, but they are fools – they should realize that any planned infiltration of a target as heavily defended as Pocket would be disguised as a small outpost.

"You know what to do. Go to Clef and investigate. Unrestrained use of force is authorized. Any objections, Lady?"

* * *

I first saw Tom Tasby in Professor Oak's lab, right as the kid was about to become a Pokémon trainer. On top of his frizzy brown hair was a red cap with a white flap in front and a white arch above the flap – the same cap that Red had worn. It had been almost ten years since Red had defeated Team Rocket and become a hero to Pocket, and Pallet Town took pride in having produced such a hero. But Tom, I would soon learn, was especially fond of Red – and of everything else relating to the world of Pokémon training. He had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Naturally, he didn't notice me when he came in – a Pokédex is a relatively inconspicuous object. But he did notice that he was not the first one to get to the lab. The tall, long-haired, red-headed Jude Tutino stood waiting near Professor Oak. The two fourteen-year-old boys looked at each other with a loathing that even I recognized, not yet knowing anything about them. Apparently Oak didn't notice, though. He raised his bushy gray eyebrows and said, "Thomas! Good to see you here. Exciting day, no? Well, now that you're both here, we can get started. I'm sure you've heard most of the rules you need to know as Pokémon trainers, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't repeat them now to make sure everything is clear to you."

The old man really liked to ramble on. "To catch a wild Pokémon, you must throw an unused Pokéball at it, preferably after having weakened it. However, if it faints before you have caught it, the Pokéball will not accept it, and catching it will be impossible. Once captured, a Pokémon will regard you as its master – unless you already have a full party of six Pokémon when you catch it. In that situation, simply put the Pokéball in a special slot on your Pokédex and it will be transported to Bill's storage system; you will be able to retrieve it at special computers located in Pokémon Centers. The Pokémon will then listen to you as long as it is part of a party of no more than six, which is the maximum number of Pokémon you may have with you at any time. Ownership of Pokémon can be exchanged by trading with other trainers, but if the Pokémon received in a trade is too strong and the trainer too inexperienced, it may choose to ignore its new trainer's commands. A good way to make sure all traded Pokémon listen to you is to earn its respect by collecting Gym badges. There are eight Gyms in Kanto, the same number as all other trainer-inhabited regions of Pocket. You must collect a badge from all eight Gyms by defeating the Gym Leader each one houses if you want to compete in the Pokémon League. In a battle, you can only use more Pokémon than your opponent when battling against Gym leaders and the Elite Four; otherwise, the two trainers must agree on the number of Pokémon they will each use. Once released from its Pokéball, you must wait at least thirty seconds before your Pokémon can be withdrawn. You will know when your Pokémon has fainted by the glowing light at the center of its Pokéball, at which point you should withdraw it into the Pokéball and bring it to a Pokémon Center to heal it."

"We already know all of this, Professor," Jude said impatiently. "It's not like we haven't been preparing for this, you know. Well, at least I have."

"Patience, Judith," said Oak. "We'll get to everything soon enough. Now, on to the selection of the starters! I have three starters with me today: the fire-type Charmander, the grass-type Chikorita, and the water-type Mudkip. Oh, but who gets the first pick?"

Tom and Jude turned towards each other and put out their fists. "Rock, paper, scissors!" they both shouted. Tom used scissors, Jude used paper. Jude cussed and Tom grinned.

Tom thought for a moment. "I pick Charmander," he said. Professor Oak picked up one of the Pokéballs on the table where I also sat and gave it to Tom.

"Good," said Jude, "I was going to pick Mudkip anyways."

"Yeah right," Tom grumbled. "You just wanted a type advantage over my Charmander."

"What are you talking about?" Jude replied. "I've always liked Mudkips! Hadn't you heard?"

"Settle down, kids," said Oak. "It's time to give you your Pokédexes. And these aren't just ordinary Pokédexes; I have a treat for you. You two are the first ones to try out the brand-new Ultradexes!"

That would be me he was talking about (and my "brother"). Oak picked us up from the table. "The Ultradex," he said excitedly, "not only provides information about Pokémon, but it is a supercomputer with all the information you'll need about the Pokémon world, your own Pokémon, your opponent's Pokémon, and anything that happens during a Pokémon battle. It also acts as a G.P.S., a cell phone, a radio, a v-scholar, has Database access, recognizes vocal commands, and has all of the features of the PokéGear, PokéNav, and Poketch, among other things." He forgot to mention that we were sentient and could talk. Mostly because he didn't know. "It should recognize and have data on your Pokémon as soon as you become its owner," Oak continued as he gave me to Tom and my brother to Jude. "Which reminds me: do either of you want to give your new Pokémon a nickname?"

"Nah, I'm good," said Jude.

"Yes," said Tom. "I'll name him Charlie."

"Oh, Charlie the Charmander," Jude said sarcastically. "Really clever. I bet nobody's thought of that before." (I silently shared Jude's sentiment.)

"Be nice, Judith," said Oak. "Alright, to nickname your Pokémon all you have to do is go to its information page on your Ultradex and change its name." Tom then spent about a minute figuring out how to work with me, under Oak's supervision, and eventually managed to change Charmander's name to Charlie.

"Okay!" said Oak. "How about a little battle to test out your new Pokémon?"

The two boys agreed. Tom looked at his Pokéball. There was a small white button between its white half and its red half. When Tom pressed this button the ball opened, and a beam of light burst out of it and onto the floor in front of him. The mass of white light quickly took a bipedal, lizard-like shape while at the same time turning from white to orange; within two seconds, it had become a Charmander. Jude had released his own Pokémon, and now Charlie and the small, blue Mudkip were standing in front of their respective owners, looking at each other. Tom looked at my screen. I did my job and displayed the moves which Charlie knew. Tom sighed; the only words he saw were "Scratch" and "Growl". First battles are never particularly exciting.

"Are you both ready?" asked Oak. The two boys said that they were. "Okay, let the battle begin!"

This was the first time I noticed something peculiar: during a match, something about Tom's pulse would change. It wasn't really faster or slower, just different; being a highly sensitive machine, I could feel it from within the hand he was holding me in. Even for such a little match as this, and even at his very first battle, he had a battle "mode" apart from his normal one.

"Mudkip, Tackle!" yelled Jude.

"Use Scratch, Charlie!" Tom said at the same time.

The two Pokémon ran towards each other. Right before Mudkip ran into Charlie, Charlie swiped his claws at his opponent. Charlie's Scratch made contact, but so did Mudkip's Tackle, and Charlie was sent flying a few feet backwards.

Like I said, first battles are usually pretty boring. This was no exception. The same scenario, more or less, played out three more times, with the two Pokémon looking increasingly more tired out each time, until finally Mudkip fell over. "Mudkip, no! Hang in there!" Jude said. But it was too late – Mudkip was no longer able to fight.

"Tom is the winner!" Oak announced. Mudkip became a streak of light again and returned to its Pokéball while Charlie did a victory lap around Tom's legs, snarling victoriously as he did so.

"I hope you realize that that was hardly a real fight," Jude told Tom. "Both of our Pokémon were very weak, and neither of them knew enough moves to make strategy count. It was all luck."

Tom didn't say anything; I assume he knew that Jude was right, but was too happy at the moment to care. Euphoria was definitely the emotion I was picking up from him (being as advanced a piece of technology as I am, I could tell a lot about how Tom was feeling from his pulse. As much in his hand as in his shirt pocket, where he put me after the battle ended.)

"Traditionally, the loser is supposed to give some money to the winner," said Oak, "but I'll let Judith off the hook this time.

"Before you go, I'm going to give you these to help you on your journey," said Oak. He then gave each boy five Pokéballs. "Remember not to keep your Pokémon in their balls too often, though. A strong bond between Pokémon and trainer is essential to winning battles. Oh, and I also need to give you these." He gave each boy a plastic card. "This is your Trainer Card. You'll need it to get all the free facilities that Pokémon Centers offer trainers."

"That's all I have to say to you kids. Now it's time to set off! Vermilion City, as you know, is right down Route 1; Judith, you might want to get your Mudkip healed at the Pokémon Center there. Well, good-bye, and good luck!"

The two boys said good-bye to Professor Oak and departed from the lab.

* * *

Tom let Jude have a head start at Route 1; he sat waiting for a while at the edge of Pallet Town, with Charlie at his side (made healthy again with a Potion) and me in his pocket (not that he knew that I was aware of… well, anything). When he decided it was safe and that he wouldn't have the misfortune of encountering Jude again, he started walking down Route 1's dirt path. Charlie excitedly followed him, running in loops and curves instead of straight lines. Tom chuckled at the peculiar behavior. "What're you in such a hurry for?" he asked his Pokémon. Then he turned to his side and looked at the tall grass there. He hesitated. "Didn't used to be allowed to go there alone," he said (mostly talking to himself; it's not like a Charmander's comprehension abilities are any more advanced than a one-year-old child's). "Too dangerous without a Pokémon," Tom continued. He looked at Charlie. "But now I have you, right?" Charlie frantically waved his arms and made a bunch of growling and snarling noises in reply, noises which sounded vaguely like he was saying "Char! Man! Der!" over and over again. (That would be silly, though – how could he naturally be saying his species name when said name was given to him by humans based on other human words?) "Then let's go!" said Tom, and he went into the grass, Charlie following him.

Tom pushed through the grass, which was about as high as he was, for a minute or so before he found what he was looking for: a wild Pokémon. Specifically, a wild Pidgey. Tom acted as soon as he saw the little brown and white bird. "Go, Charlie!" he yelled, pointing at it. Charlie jumped in front of Tom just as the Pidgey turned its head towards them, finally noticing their presence. "Use Scratch!" Tom instructed. Before the Pidgey even had time to react, Charlie had gone up to it and Scratched it. In response, the Pidgey flapped its wings, blowing a large cloud of sand at Charlie. Charlie staggered, half-blinded; Tom made the decision that now was the time to act and threw a Pokéball at the Pidgey. The ball opened and the Pidgey became a beam of light, which retreated into the ball. The Pokéball shook a little, and then… it snapped open. The Pidgey reappeared in a flash of light, and the Pokéball lay next to it, broken – its red and white halves had separated. Obviously, the Pidgey had not been weakened enough. "Scratch it again!" Tom told Charlie. But Charlie still had sand in his eyes; he ran towards the Pidgey, scratching the air as he went. The Pidgey easily fluttered out of the way. "It's to your left! Scratch it!" said Tom. Charlie hastily turned to his left and successfully scratched the Pidgey. The Pidgey stumbled; it now seemed weak enough. Tom threw another Pokéball at it, and once again, it became white light and entered. The ball shook for a few seconds… and then stood still with a _click_.

"Yes! Woohoo!" Tom shouted in glee. It was the very first time he'd caught a Pokémon; I could tell that was a big moment for him.

But I had a job to do – and now that I was in Tom's pocket and not Oak's lab, I could finally do it vocally. "Would you like to give Pidgey a nickname?" I asked. Tom was startled for a bit until he realize where the voice was coming from.

"Oh, right," Tom said while taking me out of his shirt pocket. "Hmm… it's a female Pidgey, so I'll name her… Pippa!"

That did it for me. "Wow," I said, "you really suck at naming things."

Tom did a double take. "Wait, what?" he said.

"Your names, they're dumb and cheesy. Just saying."

Tom gave me a very strange look. "You have… opinions?"

"I sure do. For example, I opine that you have an ugly face."

"Huh," Tom said. "Professor Oak never told me you had AI."

"Well, he didn't know," I explained. "I'm not actually supposed to have it. Whatever clumsy idiot put me together somehow ended up giving me an intelligence chip, though. I didn't want to know what the old man would do to me if he found out – probably have me sent back, and definitely not handed out to a trainer in any case – so I didn't exactly feel like showing it off in front of him."

Tom thought for a second. "Is Jude's Pokédex alive too?"

"Probably," I answered. "We were developed in the same place under the same procedures, after all."

Tom picked up the Pokéball which Pippa was now in, plus the broken Pokéball, and then put Charlie back in his own Pokéball. Then he secured me back in his shirt pocket, which closed from the top. "Are you sure you're okay staying in there?" Tom asked. "I mean, can you even see from in there?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I assured him. "You humans and your primitive reliance on visual sensors. I can tell the shape, size, consistency, color, and basically everything else about everything in sight range from echolocation and electromagnetic radiation, among other things. To be honest, you should be more worried about me staying with you than I should."

* * *

When Tom got to Viridian City, he went straight to the Pokémon Center. To his relief, Jude was not there; he must have already left. Tom gave his two Pokéballs to the nurse behind the counter and showed her his Trainer Card. The nurse put the balls in a strange machine behind the counter, which rang a short jingle. Within the next minute, Tom already had his Pokéballs back. "That's it?" asked Tom. "That's all you need to do to heal Pokémon?"

"It sure is," said the nurse cheerfully. "You'll find that your Pokémon are in perfect condition now."

Tom took Pippa out of her Pokéball just to be sure, and found that she was indeed perfectly healthy. Not only healthy, but also calm; Tom marveled at how the Pokémon that had just fought with Charlie was now looking at Charlie's trainer admiringly, and all it had taken was one capture in a Pokéball. Then he took Charlie out of his Pokéball and brought his two Pokémon to the Pokémon Center cafeteria, where they were provided with food. Tom himself ate lunch free there, thanks to his Trainer Card (isn't there some human saying about there being no such thing as a free lunch? I never understood that. But then, philosophy isn't in my programming).

After lunch, Tom went to the Pokémart. He bought several Potions and Antidotes, and also a few Parlyz Heals and some more Pokéballs. The Viridian Forest was ahead, and he wasn't about to go into it unprepared.

There's actually a Pokémon Gym in Viridian City, but it's the toughest gym in Kanto; Tom could never hope to win that badge just yet. So he had no reason to stay there. Once he had everything he needed where he needed it, he started heading down Route 2 towards Viridian Forest.

"Alright, Dexter," Tom said as he took his first step out of Viridian City, "we've got just a bit of forest to go through, and then it's Pewter City, where we'll stay until I have the Boulder Badge."

"'Dexter'? Really?" I replied. "Could you be less original?"

"You don't like it? I could change it to something else."

"No, go ahead and call me that. It'll give me one more reason to mock you."

"Thanks, Dexter. You're a great companion."

"Yeah, well. I try."


	2. Viridian Forest

Viridian Forest was very green and very dark. Even though it was a clear, sunny day, hardly any sunlight shone through the thick canopy above. It was only because of a thin path between dense clusters of trees that Tom was able to progress. This path, Tom quickly found out, was not a very straightforward one; it was full of forks, loops, and dead ends, like a maze. He kept finding himself right back where he had just been a minute before.

It wasn't long into this blind progression that Tom encountered yet another wild Pokémon: a Caterpie, green and segmented, was sitting right in the middle of the path. It turned its head to give Tom a curious gaze. "Go, Pippa!" Tom said as he released Pippa from her Pokéball. When she appeared, she looked at the Caterpie, who looked back at her; they both assumed their fighting stances. "Use Tackle!" Tom ordered. Pippa lunged forwards towards the Caterpie, who did not have time to dodge her as she crashed headfirst right into it. It fell back a few feet and made an odd buzzing noise. It had only suffered one blow, yet as it struggled to get back on its feet, it was clear that one more Tackle would faint it; Caterpie are not the strongest of Pokémon, to put it mildly. After a moment's hesitation, Tom threw a Pokéball at the Caterpie. It turned into white light and entered the Pokéball, which closed up, hit the ground, and shook… and shook some more… and then stopped and clicked. "Alright!" Tom shouted. He was as ecstatic about catching his second Pokémon as he was for his first. He picked up the Pokéball and put it away. Pippa flew up to Tom's right shoulder, where she perched, and she let out a content tweet.

"What kind of cheesy alliterated nickname do you want to give this one?" I asked. "It's a male, so you could name him Carl… oh, how about Calvin?"

"Actually, I was thinking of giving him a name starting with B-U," Tom replied. "It'd be useless for him to have a C-A name once he's a fully-evolved Butterfree."

"Right you are, of course," I said; "it'd be a tragedy if you couldn't keep showing off your embarrassing corniness later on. Masculine names that start with B-U… let's see… Buck, Buddy, Burton…."

"'Buddy' sounds good," said Tom. "I'll use that one."

The next few minutes were uneventful, at least after Tom healed Buddy with a Potion and replaced Pippa with Buddy as his one released Pokémon. With Buddy now on his shoulder where Pippa had been, Tom just kept walking through the maze of a forest and admiring nature's beauty while Buddy remained silent and mostly motionless. As he attempted to turn left at one particular fork, though, he walked right into a person walking in the opposite direction. "Oops, sorry!" Tom apologized.

"No problem," the person said. It was a boy who looked to be no older than ten and wore a straw hat. The boy looked from Tom to Buddy. "Oh, you're a Pokémon trainer?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Tom. "I just got my Trainer Card today, in fact. Are you one?"

"Well, sort of," said the boy. "I have one Pokémon, and he's not very strong. I don't train him often, but he's good for a fight every now and then. It's not like I'm a licensed trainer or anything, though."

"You mean you don't have a Trainer Card?" Tom asked confusedly. He had yet to fully grasp the fact that most trainers were like this boy: while there were many dedicated, licensed trainers such as Tom, most people who train Pokémon do it as little more than a hobby.

"Nope," said the boy. "I'm up for a one-on-one battle if you are, though."

"You bet I am!" said Tom. "Go on, Buddy!" Tom's Caterpie jumped from Tom's shoulder onto the ground.

"Come on out, Weedle!" said the young boy. A streak of light came out of his Pokéball and took the form of a yellow Weedle, which was segmented like Caterpie, but unlike Caterpie, had a white spike on its head and on its tail.

As usual, the battle began immediately. Tom yelled "String Shot!" while his opponent simultaneously yelled "Poison Sting!"

The Weedle pointed its tail at Buddy, and Buddy raised his head. A thin, purple dart flew out of the spike on the Weedle's tail and a long strand of white string shot out of Buddy's mouth. In a moment, Buddy had a dart in him, which was shallow enough in his skin for him to simply shake it off, and Weedle was covered in string. "Try another Poison Sting!" shouted the boy.

"Keep moving around it!" Tom shouted.

Buddy started running (as much as a Caterpie could run) in a circle around the Weedle, which slowly raised its tail and attempted to point it at the moving target. The Weedle shot another dart out of its tail, but Buddy changed directions just as it did, causing the dart to hit the ground right behind Buddy. As this was happening, Tom shouted, "Tackle it when it's done!" As soon as the dart hit the ground, Buddy stopped running around the Weedle and lunged straight at it, hitting it and making it roll a few feet in the opposite direction.

"Another Tackle!" yelled Tom.

"Dodge it and use Poison Sting!" the boy directed.

The Weedle tried to dodge Buddy's attack, but the String Shot from the first attack had made it too slow. Buddy rammed into his opponent with all of his might. The Weedle rolled considerably further than it had the first time and then stopped moving. In a flash of light, the Weedle re-entered its Pokéball. "I told you he was weak," the boy said unhappily as he handed Tom some money for winning. "I only caught him recently, though."

"Actually, I just caught that Caterpie this afternoon," said Tom. "Like I said, I wasn't even a trainer until this morning. Anyways, I'm sure your Pokémon will get stronger if you both want him to."

"Maybe," the boy said uncertainly. "Well, I'd better go home. I need to get Weedle healed, but I don't have any more money on me. They don't heal Pokémon for free for unlicensed trainers you know. Good-bye, then!"

"Good-bye and good luck!" said Tom. He and the boy then set off in separate directions.

* * *

It was a short while before Tom ran into someone else (although this time, not literally). As he made another turn, a blonde boy who looked to be about Tom's age appeared. "Oh, hello!" the boy said when he noticed Tom. He then looked at Pippa, who was now once again on Tom's shoulder. "Oh, you're a Pokémon trainer too?" the boy asked. Before Tom had the chance to answer, the boy said, "Well, you know the drill! When two trainers run into each other, one of them asks if the other wants to battle. How about it? I have two Pokémon, so unless you just have that one, it'll be a two-on-two."

"Two-on-two would be fine," said Tom. Pippa flapped her wings excitedly. "I'll save you for last, okay?" Tom whispered to her. She tweeted in acceptance.

Both trainers released their first Pokémon simultaneously. "Go, Turtwig!" the blonde boy said as he released his, and a green, shelled Turtwig materialized in front of him.

"Go, Charlie!" Tom yelled as he released Charlie from his Pokéball.

"Crap, a fire type!" said the boy. "Well, I can't change Pokémon for thirty seconds, so… Tackle!"

"Dodge it and use Scratch!" said Tom. Charlie, who was considerably faster than the Turtwig, jumped out of the way just in time.

"Withdraw!" the stranger quickly demanded. The Turtwig retreated into its shell (which enlarged to make room for its big head) right before Charlie used Scratch. Charlie's attack didn't seem to have much of an effect against the shell.

Tom seemed unsure of what to do for half a second – Charlie may have been a fire type, but he had yet to learn any fire-type moves. But then he had a fit of inspiration, and shouted, "Use your tail!"

Charlie curled his tail to put the flame at its tip right on top of the Turtwig's soil shell. The Turtwig, whose mouth was not completely covered by its shell, gave out a slight moan.

"Uh oh!" cried Tom's opponent. "Turtwig, come back!" The Turtwig became a beam of light and retreated into its Pokéball. "Go, Geodude!" said the boy.

A small boulder with a face and two arms now appeared in front of him. "Use Tackle!" the boy ordered.

"Dodge it and use Scratch!" yelled Tom.

While Charlie hadn't defeated the Turtwig he had faced, he'd obviously gained some experience from the previous fight, and it had made a difference. I'm programmed to simulate a Pokémon's learned moves based on certain visual cues, pre-set knowledge of the species, and prior observation of that Pokémon's training – among other things – and all of these were now triggering new data in Charlie's file. I also had a job to do. "Oh, by the way," I quietly told Tom as the Geodude flew towards Charlie, "Charlie just became strong enough to use Ember. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Excellent!" said Tom. Charlie had failed to dodge Geodude's Tackle, and now lay on the floor a few feet in front of Geodude. "Charlie, use Ember!"

"Block it with Defense Curl!" said the other boy.

Charlie stood up, opened his mouth, and discharged dozens of small flames from it; they went flying towards the Geodude, who curled its arms around itself. The flames were mostly blocked by the Geodude's arms, but a few hit its body, leaving tiny scorch marks. "Tackle it, Geodude!" the blonde boy said once the flames had ceased.

"Use Ember again!" said Tom. Charlie spewed flames at the Geodude as the latter used its arms as legs of some sort to charge at the former. The Geodude accumulated scorch marks, but hit Charlie hard, knocking him back several feet. "Another Ember!" Tom shouted.

"Tackle it again!" yelled the stranger. Once again, Charlie shot flames from his mouth at the Geodude, who flew towards Charlie, and once again, the Geodude knocked Charlie a considerable distance backwards.

This scenario repeated itself again. Afterwards, the flame on Charlie's tail, which had been diminishing with every blow he took, started to rage furiously. Tom looked pretty confused about this happening, so I explained what was going on. "It's his Blaze," I said. "Whenever he's low on health, his fire-type attacks get stronger."

"That's great!" said Tom. "Okay, Charlie, another Ember!"

"One more Tackle!" said Tom's opponent.

For a third time, Charlie spat flames at the Geodude while the Geodude flew towards Charlie and Tackled him. Both of them looked very weak after they got hit; Charlie fell down.

"Dang!" Tom said as he returned Charlie to his Pokéball. "Well, you're up, Pippa!"

Pippa tweeted and landed in front of him. "Start out with Sand-Attack!" he said.

"Tackle it!" said Tom's opponent.

The Geodude started flying towards Pippa, but stopped when it got hit by a wave of sand. As the Geodude struggled to clear out its eyes, Tom yelled, "Now, use Tackle!"

Pippa flew right into Geodude, who fell over. Pippa's attack didn't have much of an effect; Tackle is pretty weak against a rock-type. But the Geodude had taken heavy damage from Charlie's Embers, and so one Tackle was all it took for Pippa to bring it down.

"Come back!" yelled the boy as he returned his Geodude to its Pokéball. "You're up again, Turtwig!" In a flash of light, his Turtwig returned to the battlefield. Its shell looked slightly darkened, presumably the result of Charlie's tail's flame. "Tackle!" the boy yelled.

"Get away from it and use Tackle!" said Tom. Pippa left the ground right before the Turtwig ran into her, and then flew right into her opponent. The Turtwig rolled backwards a small distance, strained itself to stand up, and then fell down again. It was in no condition to keep fighting.

"Turtwig, that's enough!" said the boy, and his Turtwig went right back into its Pokéball. Pippa flew back onto Tom's shoulder and tweeted triumphantly. "You're pretty good," said the boy as he gave Tom some money. "There's one thing I don't get, though. How come you didn't use Ember earlier, on Turtwig?"

"Actually, I don't think Charlie wasn't even strong enough to use Ember when he started fighting your Turtwig," said Tom. "He must have gotten stronger during the fight. I had no idea that Pokémon could get that much stronger so fast, though."

"Neither did I!" said the blonde kid excitedly. "So where are you heading?"

"Pewter City," said Tom. "I still need to get my first Gym badge there."

"That's where I'm going too!" said the boy excitedly – in fact, he said pretty much everything excitedly. "We can go together! Especially since I don't have any Pokémon to defend me now. So what's your name, anyways? My name's Peter Embs. I'm from Goldenrod City in Johto. Where are you from?" I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to groan at this kid's fast, disjointed way of speaking, so I did neither.

"Tom Tasby, and I'm from Pallet Town," said Tom as the two of them walked. "What brings you to Kanto?"

"Brock," said Peter. "The leader of Pewter Gym. He's an old family friend. He even gave me my Geodude. He says it's a female, but I don't know how he can tell the difference. Anyways, I figure if I'm going to get my first badge, I might as well get it from him. Then, after I've gotten two badges in Kanto, I'll take the magnet train from Saffron City to Goldenrod City and get the rest of my badges in Johto. I've got it all planned out! I came here to this forest to train, but obviously I still have some work to do. I just became a trainer a few days ago, by the way. Professor Elm gave me this Turtwig, and my Trainer Card. How long have you been training?"

"Since just this morning," said Tom, with a hint of pride.

"Wow, you must have a lot of talent to already be that goo- hey, what was that?" Peter said, for there had been a rustling from the plants nearby.

Suddenly, a yellow rodent with a crooked tail and two brown lines on its back hopped onto the path in front of them. "A Pikachu!" Peter whispered. "Those are really rare! Man, I wish I had a Pokémon with me who wasn't fainted!"

"Oh, that's right!" Tom said happily. "That means we don't have to fight over who gets to catch it. Go, Pippa!"

Pippa leaped off of Tom's shoulders and onto the ground. "Tackle it!" said Tom. Pippa started flying towards the Pikachu, but before she had even gotten close, both of her wings were electrocuted by a ThunderShock from the Pikachu's red cheeks. Pippa fell to the floor. "Uh oh…" said Tom, "…sorry Pippa, but I don't think you're fit for this job. Go, Buddy!" Buddy came out of his Pokéball and appeared in front of Tom. Pippa looked tired and disgruntled; deciding she had had enough, Tom put her back into her Pokéball. "Buddy, use String Shot!" he said.

Tom's Caterpie shot white string out of his mouth and onto the Pikachu. "Pika!" cried the angry Pikachu, who was now covered in white string. It then used a ThunderShock on Buddy, who afterwards looked as though he were on the brink of fainting.

"Hang in there, Buddy! Tackle it!" said Tom. Buddy ran towards the wild Pikachu, who tried to run out of the way at the last moment, but was too slow thanks to the String Shot. The Tackle didn't do very much damage, though, and the Pikachu quickly returned to its feet. Tom, obviously afraid that it might use another ThunderShock, promptly threw a Pokéball at it. The Pokéball shook… and shook… and shook some more… and then stood still. "I got it!" Tom shouted gleefully.

"Alright, great job!" said Peter. "Oh, look at that!"

Peter was pointing at Buddy, who was shooting white string out of his mouth... and onto his own body. Soon Buddy was completely covered in a silky substance not too different from what he had shot at the wild Pikachu only a moment earlier. The ball of silk then began to glow like a Pokémon entering or exiting its Pokéball. When it started to change shape, what I was already aware of became obvious to the on-looking boys: Buddy was evolving. The mass of light took the crescent form of a Metapod and then stopped glowing, turning green and revealing two beady eyes.

"I… I don't believe it," said Tom incredulously. "I just caught him today!"

"Yeah, I've heard that Bug Pokémon evolve pretty fast," said Peter. "I didn't know they evolved _that_ fast, though. But then again, it must have been pretty close to evolving already when you caught it."

Tom put the new Buddy back into his Pokéball, and then picked up the Pokéball he had caught the Pikachu in. As he put it away, I asked, "You want to nickname that Pikachu, right?"

"I almost forgot!" said Tom. He pulled out of his pocket and looked at my screen for info on his newly-caught Pikachu. "It's a male, so I'll name him Ralph."

"Who was that?" asked Peter, looking around.

"That was just Dexter," said Tom. "He's my Pokédex – well, my Ultradex, which is the newest version of the Pokédex, but they accidentally made them with a built-in personality. A pretty nasty personality, too."

"Says the kid with the dullest personality ever," I retorted.

"Man, that's really cool," said Peter. "Professor Elm just gave me a boring old non-insulting Pokédex."

Tom put me back in his shirt pocket, and they continued walking down the path. "So!" said Peter. "What's Pallet Town like?"

"It's really small, and really tight-knit," said Tom. "What's Goldenrod like?"

"It's really huge, and really busy," said Peter. "The opposite of Pallet Town, from the sound of it. So Pallet Town is one of those little places where everyone knows everyone, huh?"

"Well… yeah, pretty much," Tom said.

"Sounds neat," said Peter. "Most people only know about Pallet Town because of the guy who wore that hat you're wearing. So are there any friends from there who've also gotten into training? Anyone from Pallet Town wandering around Kanto I should know about?"

"Um, well, there's this one guy," Tom started, "but I wouldn't exactly call him a friend. Or anything close to it. Jude Tutino is his name, and he's a jerk who's always hated me, but for some reason our parents arranged for us to become trainers on the same day. Today, I mean."

"Oh... does that mean he's somewhere nearby?"

"Probably," Tom answered. "I skipped staying in Viridian City to be sure to avoid him, though. And I think he's as determined to avoid me as I am to avoid him, so hopefully he won't be too much of a problem."

"I gotcha," said Peter. "But none of your actual friends have gotten into Pokémon training?"

"Um…" Tom said nervously. "Well… the thing is…." He was struggling, but in the end decided to just say it. "I never really made any 'actual' friends in Pallet Town. Jude made sure of that."

"What?" Peter said. "What did he do, stick you with that Ultradex thing?"

I would've said something snarky in response, but I was interested in hearing what Tom was on about. "Not exactly," he replied. "He just has a lot of… how do I put it? He's good at charming people. He somehow managed to get everyone else in Pallet Town to really like him. Even my mom assumed I'd be thrilled to start my training with the coolest kid in town. And I don't really understand why, but he's always really hated me, all the way back to when we were little kids. And so since all the other kids admired him so much, he got them to hate me too. Basically, I'm glad to be getting out of that town."

"No kidding!" said Peter. "Man, I just don't get people sometimes. But hey, that douchey kid hasn't gotten to me yet, right? So not all is lost!"

"What? I… oh, um, right," Tom said awkwardly.

"None of my friends got into training either, so it'll be like a new beginning for both of us. Hey, look!" Peter suddenly said, pointing to a bird on a shrub branch. "A Chatot!" He walked over to the Pokémon.

"Aren't those native to Sinnoh, though?" asked Tom.

"I dunno," said Peter, "but what do they care? They're birds. They can fly pretty much anywhere they want to." He leaned towards the colorful bird, inspecting it, before pulling out his Pokédex to find information on it. "This thing says that these guys can perfectly imitate human speech," Peter said. He thought for a second, and then cupped his hands to shout in the Chatot's direction, "Peter is awesome!"

"Peter is awesome!" the Chatot shouted back in a scratchy yet entirely human-like voice.

"Hey, it worked!" said Peter. "Did you hear that? I'm awesome! The Chatot even said so."

"If you need a bird to confirm it, that's probably a bad sign," I noted.

"Oh, hush," said Peter. He cupped his hands again. "Tom's Pokédex is an asshole!"

Sure enough, the Chatot repeated, "Tom's Pokédex is an asshole!"

"Oh, that one hurts," I mocked. "If I were a hormonal fourteen-year-old boy I'd probably be in deep emotional turmoil right now."

"I'm fifteen, actually," said Peter blankly. Then, as if to disprove this statement, he cupped his hands again and shouted, "Penis!"

"Penis!" the Chatot shouted back.

"I'd mock you for what you just said about your age, but that'd be _way_ too easy," I said.

Peter took no notice of me; he cupped his hands again and shouted "Vagina!"

"Penis!" the Chatot shouted.

"Huh," Peter said, "it didn't work that time." Before he could put his hands back to his face to shout something else, the Chatot again cried "Penis!"

"Hey bud, what's wrong?" Peter asked. "It sounds like you're broken." To which the Chatot replied: "Penis!"

"I think that bird's trying to tell you something," I snarked.

Tom, who had been staring dumbfounded at the whole display, finally began to chuckle. It gradually elevated to all-out laughter as Peter shouted a series of cusswords at the Chatot for it to imitate, and it replied to each one of them with "Penis!". After a while Peter himself began shouting the word in turn with the Chatot, getting louder each time. "Come on, Tom, let's see who's loudest!" Peter said. "It's not like there's anyone nearby."

Tom's laughing subsided as uncertainty kicked in, but luckily for him he didn't have time to respond. Another Chatot landed on the same branch as the first one, who once again shouted, "Penis!". The second one responded with "Penis?", to which the first answered "Penis!". A third Chatot flew onto the branch, and the same scene played itself out again. Then, continuing to repeat the word, they took off… and so did a flock of dozens of Chatot behind them, every one of them chanting "Penis!" repeatedly as they flew away.

The two boys looked at each other in awe. Then they burst into hysterical laughter. It lasted a couple minutes, and by the end there were tears coming out of their eyes. Once they had gotten over themselves, Peter summed the whole thing up quite nicely: "That was easily the single weirdest thing I have ever seen or heard." It was maybe the first time I'd fully agreed with him.

Tom didn't have anything to say to that, and the two began walking forwards. "Hey, I think we're getting close," said Peter. Indeed, the forest around them was getting less dense, and some sunlight shone through the thinning canopy ahead. Soon they could see Route 2 in the distance in front of them.

"Pewter City is just ahead!" said Peter. "Come on – I'll race you there!"


	3. Pewter City

Tom caught up to Peter panting. "I'm not… very athletic… you know," he said between heavy breaths.

"Here we are!" said Peter, ignoring Tom. "Pewter City!" It was a lot like Viridian City – both of them were about the same size and more suburban than urban. The scenery was different, though – rugged mountains could be seen surrounding the city on most sides. Peter continued, "I've been here plenty of times, so I know it well enough. Follow me to the Pokémon Center – we both need to get our Pokémon healed."

"And get dinner," said Tom, looking at the slowly darkening sky above.

The two boys walked over to the Pokémon Center, got their Pokémon healed, and then released their Pokémon as they all ate at the cafeteria. Naturally, Peter was babbling the whole time – about Pewter City and Brock and Goldenrod City and his Turtwig and his Geodude and battle strategies and who even cares what else. "Eventually we should go see the Museum of Science," he said at one point, "…but first thing's first – we need to meet Brock! I don't think either of us is ready to face him yet, but I should at least say hello. Plus, we can train in there. There's always people training in Gyms – well, Brock's Gym isn't as popular as a lot of other ones, but every time I go there it has at least a trainer or two in it. Anyways, we should head to Brock's gym as soon as we're done eating."

And so, after they finished eating and had put away all of their Pokémon, Peter led Tom a few blocks down to Pewter Gym. It looked like any other building from the outside, but one step inside revealed that its design was not so ordinary. The floor and walls of the huge room that took up most of the building were made of rock, and the floor was partly covered by sand and boulders scattered about. Five trainers were present, two of whom were battling, two more of whom were training independently, and one of whom was simply sitting against the wall with his Sandshrew. At the far side of the room stood a young man with dark-brown hair and a serious look on his face. When he noticed Tom and Peter, however, his faced shone with delight. "Peter!" he said. "It's been a while! How have you been? Oh, you brought a friend?"

"I've been great!" said Peter. "I'm a licensed trainer now! I've been training that Geodude you gave me a while back, and also a Turtwig that Professor Elm gave me. And this is Tom. He's from Pallet Town. He just started training today but he's already pretty good! He might even be able to defeat you!"

"Is that so?" said Brock, a hint of seriousness returning to him. "Hello, Tom. I'm Brock, the leader of this Gym. I specialize in rock-type Pokémon. But you probably already knew that."

"Hi, Brock," said Tom. "Nice to meet you. Peter's exaggerating, though. I still have a while to go before I'm ready to face a Gym Leader."

"Hmm…" Brock said. He was glaring intently into Tom's face; Tom kept shifting his eyes away and back, not sure what to make of it. "Pallet Town, huh?" Brock finally said. "You look a lot like someone I used to know from there. But then, it could just be the hat."

Tom instinctively put his hand on his hat. "Oh, this?" he said, remembering what it looked like. "You're talking about Red?"

"That's right," said Brock. "We got pretty close when we were younger. It's been years since we've talked, though… I wonder what became of him…." Brock trailed off and stared into space for a few seconds. When he shook himself back, he turned to Peter and said, "Sorry about that. Anyways, I haven't even gotten caught up with you yet. How's the family?"

"They're all doing fine," said Peter. "Opal's a trainer now too. She's decided to stay in Johto, though."

"That's too bad," said Brock. "We could use some more trainers in here. Pewter City has a horrible shortage of them – I can only count on Larry over there to come here regularly." He pointed his thumb at the boy with the Sandshrew. "You two are free to challenge him, if you'd like. He's always up for a battle."

"Come on, Tom!" said Peter. "Show Brock what you've got!"

Tom, to his relief, didn't have to be the first to act – Larry seemed to have heard their conversation, since he then stood up, his Sandshrew hopping off of his lap, and withdrew a Diglett, which had apparently been training behind a boulder, into its Pokéball. Larry then took a few steps towards the three of them and looked up at Tom. "You're Tom?" he asked.

"That's me," said Tom, who walked towards the young boy. "Are you ready?"

"I am," said Larry. "Is one-on-one okay with you?"

"It sure is," said Tom. "Go, Charlie!" A flash of light later, Charlie was out of his Pokéball.

As usual, the battle began as soon as both Pokémon had entered the battlefield. "Sandshrew, Scratch!" said Larry.

"Dodge it and use Ember!" said Tom. As the Sandshrew ran towards Charlie, Charlie skid away from the attack and got behind his opponent. Charlie then spat small flames at the Sandshrew.

"Defense Curl!" shouted Larry. Sandshrew curled up into a ball just as the flames hit him.

"Now run up to him and use Scratch when he emerges!" said Tom. Charlie sped over to Sandshrew.

"Scratch it as fast as you can!" said Larry. As soon as the Sandshrew hopped out of its Defense Curl, however, Charlie dealt a powerful Scratch to his opponent's soft underbelly. Sandshrew returned the favor to Charlie.

"Get away and use Ember!" said Tom.

"Chase it and use Scratch!" Larry ordered.

Charlie ran, and the Sandshrew chased him. Charlie was faster, though, and soon found himself in front of a stone wall. He then turned around and spat more flames at his opponent, who was still running towards him. The Sandshrew took the Ember head-on as it ran closer to Charlie, and then, just as the Sandshrew had gotten within attacking distance of its opponent, it fell down, unable to take any more.

"Sandshrew, return!" said Larry. The Sandshrew was beamed back into its Pokéball. "Good match," Larry said after he gave Tom money for winning. "I'm not sure there was any way I could have beaten your Charmander. Well, maybe if I hadn't used Defense Curl. That was probably a mistake on my part. I have to go get Sandshrew healed now. See ya." He left the Gym without another word.

"That was cool!" said Peter as Larry walked out the door.

"It was indeed impressive," said Brock. "I hope you have more than a Charmander to face me with, though. You probably already know about the advantage rock-types have against fire-types."

Brock didn't realize how ironic that statement was, though Tom undoubtedly did. Tom had a bug-type (Buddy), which was weak against rock-types; a fire-type (Charlie), which was also weak against rock-types; a flying-type (Pippa), which, once again, was weak against rock-types; and that only left Ralph, an electric-type, which may not have been weak to rock-type moves, but rock-type Pokémon (especially in Kanto) are usually ground-type as well, and ground-types are completely immune to electric attacks. Tom had a lot of work to do.

"You two can train here for a little while, if you want," said Brock. "That's what Gyms are for, after all."

"Right," said Peter. "Come on, Tom; take all of your Pokémon out."

Tom released Pippa, Buddy, and Ralph from their Pokéballs. Peter released Geodude and Turtwig as well.

The next couple of hours were spent purely training. Tom was very lucky to train Pokémon for the first time in the presence of Brock, because Tom himself had little idea of how to go about it. Sure, he knew the basic ideas – making them run laps, practice moves on the boulders, avoid each other's attacks, etc. – but on all of the details he and Peter both were uncertain and inexperienced. Brock intervened at several points, helping them with things like training for evasion without causing too much damage from attacks the Pokémon failed to avoid and knowing which training exercise to direct and when. He also gave more general training advice on occasion. In one instance, Tom thought that he might be pushing his Pokémon too far; Brock had to remind him how much tougher they are than they look, and his Pokémon themselves then made noises to indicate that they were still up for more. Overall, it was the perfect experience for Tom and Peter to get the hang of the non-battling side to training early on, allowing them to get more out of it later rather than having a period of learning by trial and error.

Tom was very tired by the time the gym closed, as I could feel from his slowed-down pulse. As soon as he and Peter said their goodbyes to Brock, the two of them headed straight to the Pokémon Center. There, they showed their Trainer Cards to a woman behind a desk, and she gave them the key to a room with two beds and one bathroom. They went up the stairs and through the halls, passing, on their way there, specialized rooms for certain types of Pokémon – one that was just a large tank for water-types, one that was frozen over for ice-types, etc. None of Tom and Peter's Pokémon needed that kind of special care though, especially considering how small they all were, so the boys elected to just let their Pokémon sleep in their room with them. Once in the room, Tom and Peter took out all of their Pokémon, who greeted their trainers and then found spots on the floor to lie down on.

"What a day, huh?" Peter said as he threw himself on one of the beds.

"No kidding," said Tom, who was about to brush his teeth. He'd left his home, gotten his first three Pokémon, and made his first friend all in one day – if anything, he was much more qualified to remark on what a big day it'd been than Peter was.

I suppose it had been a big day for me too, though that doesn't carry quite the sentimental connotations for me as it does for humans. Though I found Tom quite annoying, I was also intrigued to see where he ended up, and ultimately was willing to stick around with him, providing him with whatever help he needed. After all, where else was there for me to go?

* * *

The next day was mostly spent Pokémon training. Tom did this with Peter in Pewter Gym in the morning, but decided to go to Route 2 after lunch to train there alone for the afternoon. It was basically the same routine they had learned to go through the previous evening, but this time with more intensity and seriousness.

Buddy was, by far, the hardest Pokémon for Tom to train – as should be obvious, considering the whole being in a cocoon thing. Tom did what he could with Buddy, making him practice using Harden and defending against the attacks of others, but there was only so much one could do with a Metapod. Clearly, Tom had to get him to evolve into a Butterfree before he could be of any use in battle. Charlie and Pippa, meanwhile, were both the easiest to train. For Charlie, this was probably because he had a constant urge to dispel a lot of energy – even when he wasn't training, he couldn't keep himself in one place for more than half a second. I suppose he had no qualms with using this restlessness in a directed, productive way. Pippa, on the other hand, was more concerned about what Tom wanted. After every exercise, she went back over to him, eager for praise, and usually receiving it. Then there was Ralph. It's not that Tom's Pikachu was disobedient or weak, as he was neither. But he was aloof. He didn't interact with the other Pokémon, or even with Tom, beyond what he was told to do. He did everything he was told, sure, but something about it was unmotivated and routine. It was something Tom noticed and realized he would have to work on before facing the second Gym Leader, Misty, against whom Ralph would be essential.

They trained at Route 2 all afternoon, occasionally battling against the wild Pokémon there (mostly Pidgey and Rattata). Afterwards, Tom went to the Pokémon Center, healed his Pokémon, and met up with Peter at the cafeteria for dinner. The two talked about their various experiences throughout the day as their Pokémon chowed down in the area reserved for them. They also finalized their plans to go to the museum that evening. So it was that after eating, the two of them packed up their Pokémon and headed off to Pewter Museum.

The first floor of the Pewter Museum of Science was filled with the skeletons of many species of extinct Pokémon, as well as holograms and screens on the walls showing what the Pokémon had looked like when they were alive. Tom and Peter shifted from a Kabutops skeleton to an Aerodactyl skeleton to a Rampardos skeleton, all of them behind glass, videos being shown on the walls between them. The Rampardos skeleton had a moving hologram of a Rampardos in front of it; an audio recording was saying, "…All Pokémon have a primary type, while some Pokémon have a secondary type as well. For reasons scientists are still unsure of, the primary type of every known 'fossil' Pokémon is rock…." The boys moved on to a much smaller skeleton in the middle of the room. This one had a plaque on the glass with some writing on it:

MEW

This rare psychic-type Pokémon is found in the forests of South America of Pocket. Studies have revealed that it contains the DNA of every species of Pokémon discovered so far. How this is possible is still a mystery to scientists, as there is no other evidence to suggest that Pokémon all have a common ancestor. It is generally accepted, however, that Mew was the very first Pokémon; whether other Pokémon evolved from it over time or not is still the subject of heavy debate.

Peter walked over to a nearby Omnastar skeleton, and Tom followed. "Brock has one of these, you know," said Peter, looking at the skeleton. "A Kabutops, too. I know they're extinct and all, but they found some fossils at Mt. Moon and used those to revive them. Don't worry though, I don't mean he's going to use them on us. He saves them for battles against more experienced trainers. Come on, let's go upstairs – that's where all the space stuff is."

The second floor of the museum was filled with models of various spacecraft used throughout the ages. In front of the stairs was a model of a Space Shuttle – one of the very first spacecraft built by man, used nearly 3,000 years ago when Luna, Earth's moon, was the only extra-terrestrial body humans had ever visited. In the middle of the room was a large hologram of the Pokésystem. Tom noticed some rocks on a wall; he walked over to the rocks and read what was written on the wall next to them:

MOON STONES

Chunks of the moon, Clef, are commonly known as "Moon Stones", and are often ejected upon the collision of a meteor with Clef – a fairly common event, given the abundance of meteors in the Pokésystem. It is believed that some Pokémon living on Clef come to Pocket on the larger chunks of this type. Moon Stones have some unique properties; the most well-known of these is their role in the evolution of many Pokémon originating from Clef.

"Wow, now you're looking at rocks," I mused. "And also learning stuff you could have used me to look up for free. This was definitely worth 50 yen each, wouldn't you agree?"

"Please don't speak unless you're spoken to," sighed Tom.

"We should get going back, though," said Peter. "We've seen all there is to see here."

* * *

Tom awoke bright and early the next morning; he thought he might have a chance at facing Brock that day, and wanted to get in as much training as possible. The rising sun filled the sky with yellow and orange, and to the south, Viridian Forest looked as dark as ever. Tom yawned, not used to being awake this early. That wasn't important to him, though: he was determined to train Buddy as long as it took for him to evolve. To win against Brock, he was going to need Butterfree's Confusion, a psychic-type move which, unlike electric, fire, normal, and flying moves, was not hindered by having rock- or ground-type opponents. Tom took all of his Pokémon out of their balls, and the training began.

As Tom made Charlie and Pippa run (or fly, in Pippa's case) laps and practice their moves, he brought Buddy and Ralph into the tall grass to search for wild Pokémon. Those were not hard to find, as Tom soon found out- that morning, the place was teeming with small, purple, buck-toothed Rattata. To get Buddy some battle experience, Tom began pitting him against the wild Pokémon, even though all the Metapod could do was defend himself by using Harden, and then letting Ralph come in and defeat the opponent. This routine was used on four consecutive Rattata before a Mankey appeared – a white, round-bodied, pig-snouted Pokémon. The Mankey looked at Buddy; Buddy looked back. "Man man!" the wild Pokémon taunted. "Key key!"

"You've suffered a lot of damage, Buddy," said Tom, reaching into one of his pockets. "I think you should go back into your Pokéball before this Mankey attacks…."

Buddy suddenly turned entirely white. A rip in his cocoon appeared, and a ray of light shone out of it. That ray of light then started to assume a shape, and soon, to the amazement of both Tom and the Mankey, Buddy had evolved from a Metapod to a Butterfree. An empty cocoon shell lay beneath him.

"Way to go, Buddy!" Tom cheered. After celebrating, he looked at my screen for information on Buddy's new form. "Okay, time to test out your new body. Use Confusion on that Mankey!"

The air between Buddy and the Mankey became oddly distorted. A pulse seemed to quickly flow through the distorted space from Buddy to the Mankey. A purple glow then developed around the Mankey; the glow quickly disappeared, and the Mankey fell down; it had fainted. All of this happened within about a second and a half.

"That was incredible!" said Tom. "One hit and it was down! We just need to get you used to being a Butterfree, and we'll be able to face Brock in no time!"

And getting Buddy used to being a Butterfree is exactly what Tom focused on from that point on. While continuing to assign tasks to his other three Pokémon, he concentrated most heavily on training Buddy, defeating several more Rattata on the way. This went on for the rest of the morning, until finally Tom packed it up to go to lunch. When he met up with Peter in the Pokémon Center cafeteria, Tom told him that he planned to go face Brock right after lunch. Peter was excited about this, which was predictable in that he was always excited about everything. So, as soon as they finished eating, it was off to Pewter Gym.

"Hello again," said Brock when Tom and Peter arrived at the gym. This time, the place was much less active – in fact, besides Brock and the two boys, Larry was the only one there.

"Hi, Brock," said Tom. "I'm ready to battle you now."

"Very well," said Brock. He then yelled, "All trainers outside of the battle area! A Gym Challenge is about to commence!"

Tom saw Larry and his Sandshrew emerge from behind a boulder and walk over to the wall, where they sat down. Peter said a hasty "good luck!" and ran over to sit down next to Larry.

"Kind of a pointless procedure when I'm just talking to one or two guys, but I like to be professional about battles," said Brock. "Are you ready?"

"I am," said Tom. He grabbed a Pokéball from his pocket.

"Good. The battle will begin as soon as both trainers have sent forth their first Pokémon. Because this is a Gym Leader battle, you can use as many Pokémon as you'd like. I will be using two Pokémon. Now… begin!"

"Go, Charlie!" said Tom. Charlie appeared in front of him.

"Come on out, Geodude!" said Brock as a Geodude emerged from its Pokéball.

"Use Smokescreen!" said Tom. A cloud of black smoke was blown out of Charlie's mouth and made its way towards Brock's Geodude.

"There's no dodging it – just use Tackle!" said Brock.

"Get out of the way and use Growl!" said Tom.

The Geodude flung itself through the black smoke; it looked like it was struggling to keep its eyes open. Charlie didn't need to dodge the Tackle- the Geodude charged to the space right beside Charlie and missed. Charlie then let out an earsplitting Growl that appeared to distort the air around him for a fraction of a second; Geodude's attacks would now be weaker.

"Great, now use Ember!" said Tom.

"Defense Curl!" Brock shouted.

Charlie spat out tiny flames at the Geodude as the latter curled its arms around itself. As the flames hit the Geodude, Brock yelled, "Use Rock Throw when it's done!"

The flames stopped. The Geodude, still struggling to see, held up one of its two arms, and a decent-sized rock grew into its hand from nothing.

"Get behind a boulder!" Tom ordered. Charlie turned to his side and ran to a boulder; he positioned himself so that the boulder was between him and his opponent. "Now, use Ember again!"

Charlie's head emerged from behind the boulder; before he could attack, however, the Geodude had thrown its rock, which hit Charlie right in the face. Charlie rolled backwards, a small amount of blood dripping from his mouth to the floor – the first time any of Tom's Pokémon had shed blood while under his command. Tom grimaced. Pokémon, even the weakest ones, have very tough hides, and rarely shed blood unless they've badly gotten hurt. As Charlie stood up, however, the flame on his tale grew to a larger size than ever, and the essence of fire seemed to surround him; his Blaze had taken effect.

"Try another Rock Throw!" said Brock.

"Dodge it and use Ember!" said Tom.

Charlie ran forwards as the Geodude conjured another rock; it threw the rock at Charlie, who rolled sideways to dodge it. Charlie then stopped running and spat more flames at Geodude. "Dodge it!" Brock ordered, but it was too late – the flames hit his Geodude, leaving black scorch marks.

"Ember again!" said Tom.

"Take it and use Rock Throw!" said Brock.

Charlie spat yet more flames at the Geodude, who conjured yet another rock and threw it at Charlie. Both attacks hit their targets. The Geodude was smoking where the flames had hit it; Charlie fell down – he had fainted.

"Charlie, return!" said Tom. In a flash of light, Charlie was back in his Pokéball. "Alright, Pippa, it's your turn!"

Pippa appeared in front of Tom. "Use Sand-Attack!" said Tom.

"Get out of the way!" said Brock.

Pippa flapped her wings to blow the sand on the ground towards the Geodude, but the Geodude grabbed the ground in one of its hands and thrust itself sideways to avoid the attack. "Now, use Rock Throw!" said Brock.

"Gust!" said Tom.

Another rock appeared in the Geodude's hand. Pippa flapped her wings, causing a mighty wind to blow in the Geodude's direction. The rock was blown out of the Geodude's hand, and the Geodude was sent flying backwards. It hit the ground with a _thump_, tried to lift its arm, and then dropped its arm again.

"Geodude, come back!" said Brock. Geodude turned into light and returned to his Pokéball. "Onix, it's your turn!"

A long, colossal creature made of strung-together boulders was beamed out of Brock's Pokéball. Its head almost reached the high ceiling.

"Okay, Pippa, start with Sand-Attack!" said Tom, his voice slightly stuttering with awe at the sight of Brock's Onix.

"Out of the way, and use Rock Slide!" said Brock.

Pippa flapped her wings to blow a mass of sand at the Onix's head; the Onix slid away from the path of the sand. It then roared and spat out a series of small boulders, most of which hit Pippa, who then struggled to get back up. Tom clenched his teeth in fear, but Pippa did finally get on her feet, ready to continue fighting – but just barely. "Try another Sand-Attack!" Tom yelled.

"Out of the way, then use Rock Throw!" said Brock.

Pippa flapped her wings harder than ever, blowing sand in the Onix's direction. The Onix slid out of the way again, but this time, Pippa was ready; she blew more sand to the space where the Onix was about to run to, and got sand right in the gigantic creature's face. The Onix roared and thrashed its head from left to right. It started erratically spitting rocks from its mouth in every direction; unfortunately for Tom, one of them hit Pippa right in the chest. She closed her eyes, and the light on her Pokéball made it clear that she had fainted. "Come back!" he said, and withdrew his Pidgey back into her Pokéball. "Go, Buddy!"

Tom's Butterfree appeared in front of him in a flash of light. "Use Confusion!" said Tom.

"Rock Slide!" said Brock.

The Onix, who still had sand in its eyes, started spitting out rocks; meanwhile, the space between Buddy and the Onix became distorted, apparently forming a tunnel between them, and a pulse seemed to flow through that tunnel from Buddy to his opponent; the rocks hit the ground, missing Buddy completely; the Onix glowed purple for half a second, and then let out a roar of pain.

"Excellent!" said Tom. "Use Confusion again! And mind the rocks!"

"Rock Slide! Again!" said Brock.

Once again, a near-invisible tunnel appeared between the Onix and Buddy; once again, the Onix spat out rocks; once again, a pulse zipped through the air tunnel towards the Onix; and once again, Onix glowed purple for a second while the rocks landed… only this time, they piled right on top of Buddy. Tom gasped.

Tom was distraught. Buddy was both a bug-type and a flying-type Pokémon, which meant he had a double weakness to rock-type moves. While Tom did have one last Pokémon, Ralph only knew an electric-type attack, which was useless against the Onix, it being part ground-type. Just as Tom had started half-heartedly reaching for a Pokéball, however, one of the rocks that had fallen on Buddy moved.

Buddy pushed the rock away and took to the air. He was bleeding all over; white flakes fell from his wings; he had to flap his wings faster than usual to stay up; his face was screwed up in pain. "Buddy, that's enough!" said Tom, who was slightly panicked at the sight. "Don't get yourself killed!"

Buddy let out an angry, high-pitched shriek. Before Tom knew it, another space-distortion tunnel had appeared between Buddy and the Onix; another pulse had zoomed through it, and the Onix had glowed purple again. The Onix let out a moan and fell.

"Onix!" said Brock; his Onix let out another moan and then closed its eyes. "Come back!" said Brock, and the Onix became pure light and re-entered its Pokéball.

"Wow!" said Tom, awestruck. "Way to go, Buddy!" He ran over to his injured Butterfree, grabbed his arms, and started twirling him around in a circle. "Sorry I didn't believe you could do it for a second there. Who knew you had that kind of determination in you?"

"That was a good battle," said Brock, who had walked over to Tom. "A very good battle. You have a kind of natural talent for training Pokémon that I rarely see. It's no wonder you reminded me of Red." He again stared off into space for a few seconds. When he looked back at Tom, he said, "Here, this is for winning." He handed Tom the Boulder Badge. "Oh, and take this," he said. He handed Tom a shiny, silver disk. "It's a T.M. – a Technical Machine. T.M. 80, to be specific. T.M.s can be used to teach Pokémon new moves, if the particular Pokémon is compatible with the particular T.M. This one teaches Rock Slide. Use it wisely."

"Thanks," said Tom. "Thanks for everything!"

Peter ran up to them. "Tom, that was great! I can't believe it – I mean, I knew you could do it, so I _do_ believe it, but it's unbelievable, I mean, oh forget it."

"It's okay, Peter," said Tom. "I know what you mean. So, when will you be facing Brock?"

"I don't know," said Peter, "I still have a bit of training to do before I'm ready. Tell you what – you go on ahead to the next Gym without me. I'll catch up to you soon enough. Then – if you want to, I mean – you can go to Johto with me! We'll take the Magnet Train from Saffron to Goldenrod. So, what do you say? It's okay if you want to stay in Kanto, I'd understand…."

"Peter, that would be great!" Tom said enthusiastically. "I'd love to go to Johto with you! Are you sure you want me to go on ahead to Cerulean City, though?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Peter, looking relieved. "I'll catch up to you in no time. You go. I have to stay in Pewter City and train for a while."

"Okay," said Tom. "Goodbye, then. Thanks again, Brock."

"No problem," Brock said. "Good luck with your training." Tom returned Buddy to his Pokéball and started to walk away. He passed Larry, who indifferently said, "Good battle."

"Thanks," said Tom. Smiling, he left the Gym to head west to Route 3.


	4. Clef

Samus Aran's gunship slowed down as it prepared to land on the gray, rocky surface of Clef, Pocket's only moon. Two round, puffy, pink balls beneath the ship – a Clefairy and a Jigglypuff – scurried away as it approached. Finally, as the ship hovered just above the ground, its two parallel wings bent downward to allow it to land. When its wings touched the ground, the ship's engines became silent; the parked ship now rested on its wings. After a few motionless seconds, a lift descended from the bottom of the ship, and with it emerged Samus, clad in her metallic, red and orange Power Suit. She walked out to the surface of Clef while the lift ascended back into her ship.

Samus looked around. A nearby stream of water seemed to stretch out endlessly in both directions; other than this, the terrain was the same uniformly gray, rocky ground everywhere. Above was a starry sky which the nearby planet Pocket, now half-lit, took up nearly a fourth of. A less business-oriented traveler might have been awed by the beauty of the scenery, but Samus took notice of only one thing: a large, metal, hemispherical building not too far from where she stood. It was clearly the Space Pirate base – the reason she had come to Clef. Upon inspecting it, she decided that it was too small to be a permanent base, implying that the Pirates were not planning on staying there for long. Could this mean that they had a plan to get past Pocket's heavy defenses and onto the planet itself? There was only one way to find out. Samus walked over to the building. She saw a door on the round wall above her; next to it was a square, electronic panel. She scanned the panel to hack into it from her visor. Soon, the door had opened and fallen onto the ground below, creating a ramp which Samus could walk up to get into the Pirate base.

Samus climbed up the ramp and then walked through a short tunnel, finally reaching a very large room. She didn't even have time to look around, however, before she heard a buzzing sound from above her. She looked up; two turrets were emerging from the ceiling high above her. They pointed at her with their tri-clawed heads. Samus jumped to her side just as they fired a few shots at where she was standing. She shot a couple of missiles at one of them and then jumped to her side again to dodge the next stream of bullets, which came just as the first turret got blown to bits. After running away from the door, Samus turned back and fired two more missiles at the second turret; it exploded before it discovered where she had run to. Samus looked around for any other sign of danger; there was none. She finally got a good look around the room.

The room was large enough to cover the entire length and width of the base. It had two floors- a walkway clung to the wall at about halfway from the ground to the ceiling, extending into the middle of the room at one point to reach a ladder at its center, which presumably led to the room above. Another walkway clung to the wall around the floor, and at a couple of points, a ramp led from one walkway to the other. The rest of the ground floor was filled with computers. The room was square, even though the base was hemispherical. Samus soon realized why- the rounded edges were cut off by glass walls, and trapped between the glass and the round edge of the base were… Pokémon.

In Samus's immediate vicinity, behind glass, were Pokémon that looked like the crescent moon; pink, puffy Pokémon; spiky, long-eared Pokémon; and pink, cat-like Pokémon. She didn't know that these were called Lunatone, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Nidoran, and Skitty, but she was certain that they were the Pocket Monsters she had been told about. Many of them were sleeping; some were pacing around in their confinements.

Samus walked towards the middle of the room, where several computers were set up. She scanned one of the larger computers, obtaining the Pirate data on it:

A NEW LEADER

After too long a period of aimlessness and disorganization, we Space Pirates have been blessed with our most powerful leader in memory. Not only does this leader possess strength of an incredible magnitude himself, but when his plan comes into fruition, we Pirates ourselves will have more power than was ever imagined possible. Some did not want him to rule us; some were not persuaded that he would share his power, and that he did not simply want to use us for his own purposes. The new leader killed these detractors effortlessly. Those who do not put their trust in might have no place within our ranks. Soon, when everything is corrupted, the universe will fall into strife and conflict, and we will emerge as the conquerors of all that exists. Even the wretched Hunter will be unable to stop us!

One line of this in particular caught Samus's attention: "when everything is corrupted". What could that mean? The last time Samus had heard that term, it meant referred to corruption by Phazon, a radioactive substance with disastrous potential. But Samus herself had destroyed the planet Phaaze from which the foul substance came, ending the extra-spacial connection to its home planet the substance needed to stay active. But more importantly, who was this new leader? And what was his plan? Samus scanned another large computer and received its Pirate Data:

POKÉMON

Extensive study of the creatures known as "Pokémon" has proven true many of our suspicions about them. Most importantly, they contain large quantities of Life Energy, which will be harvested as planned. Interestingly, these Pokémon contain many of the same properties as Metroids – most notably, their capacity to "evolve" into a different yet similar, and stronger, creature. Two legendary Pokémon can be found on Clef: Darkrai and Cresselia. We have encountered the latter. It proved itself too strong for capture, and we were forced to retreat. This is highly unfortunate, but proves the might of these "legendary Pokémon". We believe that they are less like ordinary Pokémon than they are like gods, endowed with some of Oscelon's power. In due time, this power shall be ours.

Questions flooded Samus's brain. How would this "Life Energy" be harvested? Who, or what, was "Oscelon"? How would the power of legendary Pokémon be made theirs – especially considering that they were proven incapable of even capturing one? She was contemplating these mysteries when she heard a familiar grunt from above her. She looked up.

Space Pirates were climbing down the ladder from the floor above.

Space Pirates come in many different varieties, partially due to the fact that they constantly tamper with both their armor and their genetic structure. These particular pirates were covered in armor that was mostly dark blue except for some yellow markings around the arms and legs, which themselves were oddly scaly-looking and separated into two parts each. Their blue helmets were shaped like discs with eyes and large, hideous jaws. Where their hands should have been were long, blue, toothed pincers. In all, they looked not much different from many other varieties of Pirates that Samus had fought against so many times.

Samus stood still while a pair of Pirates reached the bottom of the ladder and walked over to the walkway on the second floor. They hadn't noticed her yet. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she promptly shot one super missile at each of them. Upon getting hit with the explosive blast, they were both sent speeding backwards, and then crushed on the wall behind them. Knowing that the commotion would attract attention, Samus positioned herself to have a better shot at anything that came down the ladder. Apparently, other Pirates had indeed heard a disturbance, because several of them jumped down from the floor above to the bottom of the ladder. Samus shot a super missile at one of them, causing it to fly off of the walkway and onto the floor below, where it lay motionless. Another Pirate yelled, "It's the Hunter! Everyone, into the main room! Prepare for attack!" Samus shot a super missile at it, and it too fell to the floor one story below.

Soon Pirates had flooded the second floor; Samus tried shooting each one as it came down, but there were simply too many of them coming down at once. A dozen Pirates jumped into the main room in a few seconds, and then another dozen came the next few seconds. Before she knew it, Samus was being fired at from all directions above with the guns inside the Pirates' pincers. She dodged as many shots as she could, but a portion of them hit her suit; meanwhile, she fired at every Pirate she could see while she moved. Now Pirates started moving down the ramps and onto the first floor, meaning three dimensions of oncoming fire that Samus had to worry about. She missed Pirates as often as she hit them; they were dropping like flies, but how long could she keep it up? Soon she was all out of super missiles and had to use regular missiles, which posed a big problem because, while the target-seeking missiles missed a lot less than their "super" counterpart, it took much more of them to down a single Pirate. Samus was just contemplating retreat when an ear-shattering alarm sounded.

All of the Pirates stopped shooting; for a moment, they stopped even moving. Then they all started rushing towards the ladder that led to the room above. The Pirates on the bottom floor dashed to the ramps and ran up them. "What's going on?" Samus shouted above the alarm. "Too scared to fight?" But, as usual, the Pirates were in no mood to tell her anything. Samus ran up the ramp, which was now completely vacated, and started firing missiles at every Pirate in sight. They did not stop to fight her, however – they simply continued running towards the ladder, and then up the ladder once they got to it. Within moments, the only Pirates left on the ground were the ones Samus had shot dead; the only live ones still in Samus's view were climbing the ladder. Samus ran over to this ladder and shot down the Pirate lowest down on it; it fell off the ladder and to the ground, unmoving. As the loud alarm continued to sound, Samus started climbed the ladder. But before she could shoot at the Pirate above her, it dropped down and clung onto her to prevent her from advancing. She eventually dislodged it by becoming a Morph Ball and planting a Power Bomb. The forceful explosion of the Power Bomb blew up not only the Pirate, but also the bottom portion of the ladder as well as the platform on which Samus stood; Samus jumped up to what was left of the ladder just in time before the platform below her collapsed. When she looked up, she saw the only Pirate remaining on the ladder above her climb off of it and into the room above. Samus climbed and climbed through a narrow shaft until she reached the room, which she jumped into.

A pod-like, spherical, three-legged ship stood in front of her. Pirates were hurrying into it. Samus fired a few missiles and killed one of them, but that was as far as she got before the last of them entered and the door to the pod slid shut. It was not a tiny pod, but it looked like it was completely stuffed full with Pirates inside – there must have been about fifty or sixty of them, Samus estimated, with no space to spare. Suddenly, the ceiling of the room split into four parts, and the four parts receded mechanically, revealing the starry sky above. Samus understood what was going on: the Pirates were leaving the base. But to where? Pocket? Surely they would be shot down, wouldn't they?

As soon as the ceiling was completely gone, a hole at the pod's bottom shot out a jet stream. Samus flipped up a piece of metal on her silver Arm Cannon and pressed a series of buttons underneath before flicking the cover back on; meanwhile, the pod shot into the atmosphere (or what little of it Clef had). Samus waited a few tantalizing seconds, and then saw what she was looking for: her gunship, heading right for her. It went through the open roof and dropped right next to her, hovering inches from the ground. Samus ran into the lift as soon as it descended and was brought up into her ship.

The gunship, now with Samus in it, sped off in chase of the Pirate-filled pod. The gunship followed the pod through space for a short while. Samus then noticed a meteoroid speed off to their right – towards Pocket – in the distance; at that very moment, the Space Pirate pod itself turned right. Samus continued to follow it in her ship as she began to realize the horrible truth. The pod began to catch up with the meteoroid; Samus sped her ship up, thrusting it past the pod and past the meteoroid, positioning her in front of the meteoroid and just above it. It was then that Samus's fears were confirmed: the pod caught up with the meteoroid and its legs touched the large rock's back, where the pod stationed itself. The Pirates were disguising themselves as a natural cosmic body to get through the Federation-protected space. This meteoroid had undoubtedly been observed prior, meaning that it would be allowed through the protected space unharmed. Furthermore, the automatic turrets which looked outward from the planet Pocket would see the front of the meteoroid, not its back, where the Pirate space pod was stationed.

Samus's ship was going at the same speed as the meteoroid, and maintaining its position ahead of and above it (relative to her ship, that is; there is no up or down in space, of course). Samus used the control panel in front of her to drop a ship missile; the missile was wasted, however, as it missed its target. The ship and meteor were simply traveling too fast for any object ejected from the bottom of one to reach the top of the other in time. She dropped another ship missile; again, it flew into outer space as the meteoroid zoomed past it.

"We will soon be entering Federation-protected space," said Adam. "Your ship will be shot down if it enters."

Samus cussed. How stupid was it to not get her ship cleared with the Federation to enter the zone surrounding Pocket? She reminded herself to take all possible precautions in the future, and then made a quick decision. "I'm going out," she said. "Fly the ship away from here when I leave."

Samus lowered her ship so that, while still ahead of the speeding meteoroid's path, it was now below it. She then walked over to an area beneath the emergency hatch at the ship's top and pressed a button to open the upper hatch; within an instant, she had been elevated up and out of the ship.

It took Samus a moment to get used to standing on top of a ship traveling at several miles per second; luckily, there is no air resistance in space, so the task was not too difficult. The meteoroid was right in front of her; it looked about as large as the main room of the Pirate base on Clef. After bracing herself, she jumped forward, meeting the meteoroid's front side with her hands and knees. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her ship speeding away in the direction opposite of the meteoroid's path.

Samus took a quick look behind her. The planet Pocket was close and getting closer. She did not know what she could do at this point, but she knew that she had to do something. She crawled along the meteoroid's surface, trying to get around it to where the pod was stationed. Her Gravity Suit may have helped her move normally on Clef, but on this rock, which was too small to have any significant gravitational force, it was far less useful. The force from the meteoroid's acceleration towards Pocket allowed her to stay on it, but that wouldn't be true on its other side; she decided she would have to stay as close to the front as she could while having a clear shot at the pod. But the pod was not the only thing that she saw when she reached the edge of her side of the meteor and looked towards the side furthest from Pocket. Between her and the pod was something else – some_one_ else; someone painfully familiar to Samus.

Samus had defeated Ridley many times, and each time, usually with help from the Space Pirates, he somehow survived and was rebuilt. Upon his last defeat, however, his body was captured by the Federation, frozen, put into storage, absorbed by a parasite, and finally was destroyed along with the research station it was being held in and the planet which that research station crashed into. How he could have been revived again after all of that, Samus did not know; but she knew that the creature before her was him. He had the same red, scaly body; the same long, pointed head with a mouth filled with sharp teeth; the same dragon-like wings; the same long, sharp-ended tail; the same enormous size; the same cold, yellow eyes. Samus almost wished there was sound in space, because she had quite a bit to say to the monster who had killed her parents – and quite a bit to ask as well.

Ridley took to the air (or rather, to space) and began flying forwards. Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at Ridley's head and fired. Several shots of her Ice Beam hit him, but that was not nearly enough to take him down, as Samus very well knew. Ridley flew beyond Samus, who turned over onto her back to keep him within her firing range. Ridley somehow flew through frictionless space (an ability of his that scientists had never fully understood) at the pace of the meteoroid to keep up with it. Samus, who was now behind him, fired a few missiles at his back. After getting hit by them, Ridley curled up his tail and thrust its pointed tip right at her. She could feel her armor take damage from the blow. Ridley curled up his tail again, but Samus rolled over just as he thrust his tail, which sank into the meteoroid. He opened his mouth; Samus could tell that if he could make a sound, he would be screaming in anger. With a minor effort, he pulled his tail out of the rock; a small hole now existed where the tail had impacted the meteoroid. If a blow from Ridley's tail was enough to do this much damage to the rock, thought Samus, it must not be made of a very sturdy material. Another thought occurred to Samus: were the Pirates counting on the meteoroid to soften their pod's impact with the atmosphere or the ground? Could the pod itself take a direct impact with either of these things? Well, it mattered little; with Ridley as guard, there was only one thing she might be able to do to hinder the Pirates' plans. She transformed into a Morph Ball as Ridley swung his tail back and forth, missing her by inches. She rolled over to the hole Ridley had created with his tail and dropped into it, being small enough to do so in her Morph Ball form. She then planted a Power Bomb.

There was a tremendous explosion. Chunks of the meteoroid were blown in every direction until there was nothing left of it. Ridley had flown out of sight, leaving Samus (in her Morph Ball form) and the pod filled with Pirates tumbling towards Pocket, which got closer with each passing second.


	5. Mt Moon

Tom was in a very good mood. After defeating Brock, he had gone west to Route 3, where he had spent the rest of the afternoon battling other trainers. He had taken on six trainers so far, and had beaten every single one of them. The afternoon was now fading into a brilliant orange sunset, which somehow seemed to make Tom's eased conscious even more eased. Next up was a thin brown-haired girl who wore a red bandana and looked about Tom's age, if not slightly older.

"Are you ready?" the girl asked.

"You bet," said Tom, smiling. He had just gotten his Pokémon healed at the nearby Pokémon Center next to Mt. Moon, so he was, indeed, ready to battle. He picked Charlie's Pokéball out of his pocket.

"Go, Char-" Tom began, but he was cut off by an enormously loud, booming noise – like thunder, only louder, and on a clear, cloudless day. At the same time, the earth began to shake dramatically. The girl in front of Tom screamed. The explosive sound and sudden quake carried on for several seconds before slowly dying down into nothingness.

"W-wha-what was that?" the girl finally asked, her voice trembling.

"Good question," said Tom, his own pulse throbbing in panic and confusion.

"It sounded like it came from over there," the girl said. She was pointing north, towards Mt. Moon. Tom looked in this direction to find a large cloud of dust there completely blocking his view.

"Should we… go over there?" Tom asked as he put away Charlie's Pokéball. The dust cloud was starting to clear up.

"Yeah, let's check it out," the girl said; her voice had regained its confidence.

The two of them jogged over dust-covered grass where the opaque cloud was gradually falling back to the ground. They slowed to a stop upon noticing an unusual sight: a large crater. At its bottom was a small, red, smoking ball.

"Of course," the girl said softly. "A meteorite. They fall near Mt. Moon all the time."

Tom looked from the ball in the crater to the large, rocky mountain nearby and back. "Now that you mention it, I did see a few smaller craters on the way here," he said. "I guess it's to be expected, considering where we are… but I've never been that close to one landing before."

"What an unusual shape…" the girl began. "Meteorites aren't usually that perfectly round. I wonder – what the…?"

The ball was transforming; before Tom and the girl could fully process this fact, it had taken the shape of a human. A human covered in something red and orange. Smoke was still rising from the figure.

"Ex-excuse me," Tom shouted, "are you okay?"

At first, the thing that looked like an armored person didn't respond. Finally, a woman's voice replied: "I've… been better." She turned around to face Tom and the girl, and then took a few steps towards them. "This armor… it's supposed to be able to handle falls of any distance, but I don't think that was meant to include anything above the stratosphere."

"Do you need any help?" asked the girl Tom had been about to battle.

"There's nothing you can do to help me," said the armor-clad woman. "Besides, my armor's too hot to touch right now."

"Who are you?" asked Tom. "I mean, um, what's your name?"

"I'm Samus Aran," the woman said.

"I knew it," Tom mumbled, as his breathe grew short with awe. His wonderment wasn't surprising, considering his discovery that one of the greatest bounty hunters in the known universe was in his presence.

Samus, however, wasn't so happy; just then, words began flashing across her visor.

ASSESSING DAMAGE FROM IMPACT…

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT COMPLETE

SYSTEM FAILURES:

POWER BOMB MALFUNCTION

SPEED BOOSTER MALFUNCTION

"No…."

WIDE BEAM MALFUNCTION

CHARGE BEAM MALFUNCTION

ICE BEAM MALFUNCTION

PLASMA BEAM MALFUNCTION

"No… I can't believe it…."

VARIA SUIT MALFUNCTION

GRAVITY SUIT MALFUNCTION

"Not… again!"

Samus's suit was changing. Sparks of static electricity were flickering in all of its crevices. Its orange arms and legs were turning yellow; its round, red shoulders became flat and orange.

SPACE JUMP MALFUNCTION

SCREW ATTACK MALFUNCTION

SUPER MISSILE LAUNCHER MALFUNCTION

MISSILE LAUNCHER MALFUNCTION

"UGH!"

The two kids stared at Samus, dumbstruck (they, of course, couldn't see the words on her visor). When the brown-haired girl finally spoke up, she only said, "Um… what's wrong?"

"My upgrades," Samus groaned, her hand on her visor in an expression of despair. "They're gone. _Again_. God_dammit_, how does this _keep happening_?" She let out a long sigh and let her arm back down. Then she spoke softer, more to herself than to the kids in front of her. "The Pirates… they must be nearby. How can I face them like this? No, I can't think like that – there are kids here. I have to make sure they get to safety. Wherever that may be." Then she spoke louder again: "Hey, where are you two headed?"

"I'm going to Cerulean City," said Tom.

"I was on my way there too," said the girl. "But... how could Space Pirates be here? I thought that was impossible; Pocket is so heavily defended."

"I'll explain that on the way to Cerulean City," said Samus. "I'm going to escort you two there. But you will have to show me the way. How far away is it?"

"Not close," said Tom. "We have to go through the caves of Mt. Moon – that's the mountain behind you."

Samus turned to look at the mountain. Caves, she hoped, would probably be safer from Pirates than the open air. Still, it would be wise to take all possible precautions… she felt uneasy about doing this, but then remembered what Adam had said about not underestimating Pokémon and decided to give it a try. "Are you two Pokémon trainers?" she asked.

"Yes," the kids both said simultaneously.

"Good. Take out all of your Pokémon. I have a feeling you might need them."

Several flashes of light settled on the ground and materialized as Tom released Charlie, Ralph, Buddy, and Pippa; meanwhile, the girl released a green Chikorita, which had four legs and a large leaf on its head, and a blue, yellow-cheeked, squirrel-like Pachirisu. Tom looked at my screen for a moment – he had become increasingly reliant on me (despite my "nasty" personality), and had already developed habits such as keeping me at hand whenever he was somewhere where Pokémon might be involved and looking at me for information on previously unseen Pokémon. From the information on my screen, he saw, among other things, that both the Chikorita and the Pachirisu were female.

Samus pointed to the base of Mt. Moon at a point where a large hole in the rocks led into a dark cave. "That's the entrance to the cave over there?" she asked.

"It is," said the girl.

"Okay," Samus said, "I'm going to take the lead. Do either of you know the way through?"

"My Pokédex has a map of Mt. Moon," said Tom. "I can guide us through."

"Good," said Samus. "By the way, what are your names?"

"My name is Tom Tasby," said Tom.

"And I'm April," said the girl. "April Maywood."

"Alright, Tom and April, follow me – and take your Pokémon." She walked towards the cave entrance; Tom and April followed her, and their Pokémon followed them (Pippa perched on Tom's shoulder). It was getting darker now, and the purple sky again added to Tom's existing emotions – which, this time, I gathered from his expression and posture, were fear and uncertainty.

* * *

The caves of Mt. Moon were created not by dissolved rock, but by the mountain's unusually frequent collisions with meteors – it was, essentially, a system of craters that had gotten covered up over time. But the terrain above had not covered it up completely, and as a result, the ceiling was full of holes that allowed light from outside to shine through. Granted, it was almost nighttime, so this did little good, but it was significantly better than absolute darkness.

As the three of them (nine of them, if you count Pokémon) walked through the caves, a few Zubat flew by; Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at them, but they did not attack. When Samus put down her weapon, April asked, "So, please tell us… how did the Space Pirates get here?"

After a brief moment's hesitation, Samus told them everything that had happened on Clef and on the meteoroid. Tom and April listened attentively as they walked through the dark, rocky cave. Meanwhile, their Pokémon followed behind them; Ralph and Pachirisu seemed to be whispering to each other in Pokémon Speak (which, for both of them, involved making various sounds resembling their species' names). Whenever they got to a fork, Tom looked at the map on my screen for directions.

Just before Ridley's appearance in the tale, Samus suddenly became quiet and came to a halt; the kids and Pokémon behind her stopped as well. "What's wrong?" April asked.

"I heard something," said Samus. "Footsteps. It could just be a Pokémon or a hiker, but I need to make sure. Stay put for a second."

Samus walked forwards, leaving the two humans and six Pokémon behind. Then she heard the grunt she had been dreading, and three shadowy figures emerged from the darkness ahead.

The Space Pirates were limping slightly, confirming that Samus's attempt to sabotage their chances of a smooth landing had succeeded. They noticed her. Samus shot her Power Beam at one of them as fast as she could. It was not as powerful without its various upgrades, and Samus dreaded neither being able to charge it nor being able to use missiles. Still, the Pirate was weak from its harsh landing, and it went down quickly, all the while Samus was dodging shots from all three of them. The other two Pirates went down just as easily. Samus looked around for more signs of danger; when she found none, she walked back over to Tom and April. The kids had seen flashes of gunfire and moving shadows, but hadn't been close enough to the action to see what had really happened through the darkness.

"Pirates," said Samus; Tom gasped, and April put her hand over her mouth. "There were three of them, and there's probably more nearby. I don't know how they got here – it was either from the holes above us or they climbed up here from the entrance on the other side. Probably the holes, if they're already this far in. Either way, be on your guard."

She walked forwards again, and so did Tom and April, followed by their Pokémon. They stepped over the Pirate bodies once they got to them; Tom looked at them with fascination, and April looked at them with disgust. Soon they got to a ladder, which they had to withdraw their Pokémon to get down (none of their Pokémon were able to climb ladders). The floor below contained a narrow passage; at the other end of it was another ladder leading down to the bottom floor. When the kids got to this second ladder, however, they noticed that Samus had walked beyond it, and was now staring at the wall ahead. "Um, Samus…?" said April.

"Go down," said Samus. "You'll probably be safer there, if the Pirates are coming from above. I'll meet you down there soon – there's something I want to check out first. Just wait at the bottom of the ladder until then." There was something funny about the rock wall at the very end of the passage – at its bottom was a small indent… just the right size to comfortably fit Samus's Morph Ball. The rock in the indent looked cracked.

April nodded (even though Samus was turned away) and climbed down, followed by Tom. Samus became a Morph Ball, thankful that at least this ability hadn't been lost. She rolled over to the cracked indent in the wall and, once there, planted a Bomb (another ability which she felt fortunate to have kept). It let off a small concussive blast. The cracks in the wall burst open, revealing a small tunnel behind it – it was, like the indent, just large enough for a Morph Ball to fit inside. Samus rolled through the narrow tunnel. Upon reaching its other end, she dropped onto the ground below and transformed back into her normal shape. Samus found herself in a small room. She didn't need to look around for more than a split second to realize the room's key feature – but familiar though it may have been, she was shocked to find it here.

A Chozo statue sat at the other end of the room. The gray figure was sitting down, its knees bent in front of it, its arms outstretched, and its palms open and facing up, holing a small, orange ball roughly the size of Samus's Morph Ball. Samus was, to say the least, intrigued by the sight – it could only mean that Pocket was once inhabited by the Chozo, the race that raised her. The Chozo had also, despite their absence, provided Samus with help on many of her missions in the form of ancient, hidden relics they had left behind. She had not been informed that Pocket was a Chozo planet, though. But that was something to worry about later. She shot the orange ball, and, it being a shell, it cracked open and fell off. Where it had been, there was now something long and silver in the Chozo statue's hands. Samus recognized it as a Missile Launcher.

* * *

"Chu Pikapi Pikachu."

"Pachiri siri si."

Tom, April, and the six Pokémon they had just re-released stood at the bottom of the ladder, waiting. Ralph and Pachirisu were facing each other, once again deep in conversation. Tom and April were looking down at them. Ralph's behavior must have struck Tom as odd, considering how un-social his Pikachu usually was.

"Those two really seem to like each other, huh?" said Tom.

April nodded. Tom, looking at her, seemed to notice the troubling expression in her eyes. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"It's just… those Pirates… I'm just scared, is all," she said softly. She grabbed Tom's arm in her own and squeezed it. I could feel his face reddening from within his hand; after that, I knew I couldn't leave such an opportunity wasted. It took only a microsecond to find an audio recording of the grunt-like Pirate language from within the Database, which I then played on high volume. This made April scream and cling even harder to Tom, who became completely tense.

"Ha! Priceless!" I said, feeling pleased with myself.

Comprehension dawned on Tom, who was not so pleased. "Don't you _ever_ do that again, you worthless piece of…"

"Oh, please," I cut him off. "I know you're glad I did it; it totally got a girl to hold onto you."

This made Tom furious, probably because it was true. This made me feel yet more pleased with myself. April was just dumbstruck by the whole show; she hadn't been aware that I could talk. Meanwhile, Ralph and Pachirisu had kept babbling on practically the whole time.

"Who were you talking to?" April asked, her grip on Tom loosening.

"It was just my stupid Pokédex," said Tom.

"It… talks?"

"Unfortunately," sighed Tom.

Ralph and Pachirisu stopped conversing; the grunting sound of a distant Pirate sliced through the silence.

"I told you to cut that out, Dexter," Tom said almost hopefully.

"Um… that wasn't me."

Footsteps could now be heard in the direction the grunt had come from. The two kids and six Pokémon remained completely silent as the footsteps got nearer. A Space Pirate emerged from the darkness in front of them – but it was not alone. Another Space Pirate appeared to its side, and then another to its other side. Soon there were no less than ten Pirates surrounding the eight of them, their pincers open and the weapons inside of them pointed forward. April was shivering in fear.

Tom was clearly scared too, but he nonetheless entered the battle mode I had already become familiar with. One of the Pirates aimed its weapon at Charlie, who happened to be nearest to it; it was then that Tom began shouting orders. "Charlie, use Ember on it!" Charlie obeyed, and the Pirate opened fire. The other Pirates tried to gang up on Charlie, but Tom had other plans. "Ralph, ThunderShock! Pippa, Gust! Buddy, Confusion! And try not to get shot!"

The Pokémon each began their attack practically before the command had finished being given. Instantly, the cave was lit up by ThunderShocks, Embers, Confusions, and blasts from Pirate guns. Beads of sweat dripped down Tom's face as he watched each of his Pokémon only narrowly dodge the shots being aimed at them; he continued giving orders clarifying which Pirates each of his Pokémon was to attack. Charlie was the first to get hit; Tom gasped, but Charlie kept fighting as if nothing had happened, and not a drop of blood was shed. I think I've already gone over how tough Pokémon hides are. Soon Ralph had gotten hit too, then Buddy, and then Pippa; they all kept on fighting anyways. They were putting up a good fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.

Buddy had taken down one Pirate, as had Charlie. Suddenly, amid the chaos, Charlie began brightly glowing white, illuminating the mountain cave. The Pirates he was fighting continued firing at him, but their shots went through him as if he were mere air. The white Charlie silhouette started changing shape; the Pirates stopped firing at him, perplexed. Meanwhile, Buddy fell down upon getting hit a second time; Tom quickly recalled him back into his Pokéball as Charlie finished changing shape and the white glow around him faded. Charlie had evolved from a Charmander to a Charmeleon; his skin was redder than ever now, he was bigger than before, and his head had a spike-like protrusion on its back. As soon as Charlie had finished with his evolution, however, he was hit again by a Pirate and fell over. Bleeding now, he did not get up. As Tom recalled Charlie, Ralph and Pippa, both of whom had taken down one Pirate, fainted as well; Tom put them back into their Pokéballs. Now there were six Pirates, and only April's Pokémon (unused so far) remained. A second later, however, another Pirate collapsed.

"HAAYYAA!" something cried. It took a moment for Tom to realize what was going on: a wild Machop stood above the Pirate that had just fallen. The Machop looked a bit like a small, gray human, except for such details as its short tail. It evidently was the one who had taken down the Pirate. No sooner had it let out its cry had the remaining Pirates noticed it; they formed a circle around it. The five Pirates aimed their guns at the single Machop; Tom stood wide-eyed, horrified that he was about to witness this Pokémon's death….

Something hit one of the Pirates and exploded. The same happened to another Pirate, and then another, until all of them had been hit. They looked behind Tom and April to where the attacker stood. Tom and April looked back too to see Samus fire more missiles at the Pirates. She jumped to her side when the Pirates took aim at her – the two kids had been in the way, and the last thing she wanted was their blood on her hands. The three Pirates that still stood fired at Samus, but she jumped out of the range of fire and shot more missiles at them. The remaining Pirates got hit, fell, and ceased moving. The Machop stood among them, looking very surprised to still be alive.

"I'm sorry that happened," said Samus. "I thought you'd be safer if… no, that's no excuse. I left you and you almost got killed for it. I'll need to be more careful." She experienced a tinge of self-loathing; trying to put it aside, she said, "Come on, let's get moving."

"What took you so long?" April asked as Samus walked in front of her.

"I got missiles," said Samus. April and Tom began following her, and Pachirisu and Chikorita followed them. The Machop, too, joined the group, walking along with them. "From a Chozo tomb."

"Chozo?" April asked. "You mean the bird people? I didn't know they had ever settled here."

"Neither did I," said Samus; April's reaction was just what she had expected. "Well, I'll have to look into that later. Anyways, it looked like there were already five Pirates down by the time I had gotten there; did you guys do that?"

"Um, I did," Tom said, somewhat bashfully. "Or rather, my Pokémon did. Each of them took down one Pirate before fainting, and then that wild Machop finished off another. Um... are they really dead, though? Or just fainted?" I picked up some sort of uneasy vibe from the way he gripped me – and it wasn't fear.

"Space Pirates don't faint," said Samus. "They even have a mechanism in their helmet that keeps them conscious no matter what, unless they're dead. They prefer to be in the fight until the very bitter end.

"I'm impressed, though. Ten against four, and your Pokémon still maintained a one-to-one casualty rate? I mean, those Pirates were weak, and I knew Pokémon were tough, but even so, only one side had guns…."

"Nobody uses guns on Pocket anymore," said Tom. "Pokémon have practically replaced all of them."

This was true. Pokémon had replaced guns because Pokémon were more powerful than guns. It would take some pretty heavy artillery to make even weak Pokémon shed blood with a single shot. Because of this, arms became nearly obsolete, and Pokémon became power. It didn't matter whether you were a fearsome mafia boss or some ten-year-old nobody; whoever had the stronger Pokémon, and could use them more effectively, won. Perhaps because of this, Pocket had its share of heroes who, anywhere else, would be considered far too young to do so much.

Everyone continued walking in silence. Eventually, April spoke. "Tom…" she began. "I… I'm sorry I was no help when those Pirates came. I was just so scared; I didn't know what to do…."

"Don't worry about it," said Tom, who apparently was not sure what else to say.

The silence returned, and it remained for the rest of the walk until, finally, an exit became visible. Through it they could see that it was dark outside, although not quite as dark as it was in the cave.

"About time," said Samus. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here."

Samus went out through the opening, followed by April, followed by Pachirisu and Chikorita. Tom was about to go after them when he felt a tug on his pant leg.

"Hey," said a rough yet high-pitched voice. "Wait up."

Tom turned around. He found himself in front of the Machop from earlier.

"Aren't you going to catch me?" the Machop asked.

Tom stared at it blankly. Machop do not talk, so he was undoubtedly trying to think up a logical explanation for what he just heard.

"Helooo," the Machop said, "is anyone there?"

"Wha- who- why-" Tom stuttered.

"Yeah, big whoop, I can talk," said the Machop. "Get over it. Is the shock gone yet? It better be. Now, go ahead and catch me. I promise I won't struggle if you just throw a Pokéball at me."

"Hey, Tom!" April yelled from beyond the cave. "Aren't you coming?"

"Wait a moment!" Tom yelled back. He looked at the Machop. "Okay, if you say so…."

Tom took out a Pokéball and threw it at the Machop. The ball opened; the Machop became pure light and entered it; the ball closed and landed on the floor. It did not shake at all; the Machop had kept its promise.

"You have a thing for talking things that shouldn't be able to talk," I said. "Well, what do you want to nickname this one?"

Tom was still in shock from the experience with the talking Machop. "I… not right now," he said. "I'll get back to you later." He then ran off towards the cave's exit and left the mountain.


	6. Cerulean City

"What took you?" asked April as Tom emerged from the darkness of the cave.

Tom hesitated – how crazy would he sound to them if he answered that it had been a talking Machop with a personal request to be caught? "Don't worry about it," he said. "It was nothing."

"I see lights in the distance," said Samus, her back turned to Mt. Moon. "Is that Cerulean City?"

"That way is east," Tom said, his eyes on my screen. "So yes."

"Good," said Samus. "Follow me." She walked eastward. Tom followed from behind her, and April from behind him. Chikorita and Pachirisu made up the back of the line; Chikirita made sure to stay as close to her trainer as she could, while Pachirisu walked behind everyone else, looking around in every direction as she went. Above them, the full moon, which took up a large chunk of the sky, illuminated the night. Samus felt a rush of dread whenever she looked up at it; she had been there not too long ago, hoping to put a quick end to whatever plans the Pirates had been scheming.

The three humans and two Pokémon walked through the dirt and grass of Route 4 in silence for a while, the lights of Cerulean City getting ever closer. Finally, a street lamp stood on either side of them, and next to one of the street lamps stood a sign:

CERULEAN CITY

A Mysterious, Blue Aura Surrounds It

"Here we are," said Samus. "It looks like you'll be safe here. Go find somewhere to stay the night. I'm going back to Mt. Moon to see if I can find the rest of the Pirates. Later." And she walked away without another word.

* * *

Tom sat on his bed, alone (besides me) in his Pokémon Center room. One by one, he released his Pokémon until Charlie, Ralph, Buddy, and Pippa were all walking (or flying) around the room, searching the accommodations for smaller Pokémon around the walls for places to lie down. Tom then looked at the Pokéball containing his most recently caught Pokémon. For a good forty-five seconds. "You're not going to open it with your eyes, you know," I said from the bedside stand.

"Hush up," said Tom, who nonetheless then opened his Pokéball to release the Pokémon within it. The light that shone out of the Pokéball materialized on the floor in the form of a Machop. Tom looked a bit queasy. "Can… you still talk?" he asked after a moment's hesitation.

"No, I forgot how," said the Machop (Tom jumped a little). "Of course I can still talk!"

Tom then acted surer of himself, having now determined that he hadn't been imagining anything earlier. "Okay, then tell me a couple of things. How come you can talk? And why did you want me to catch you?"

"Figured you'd ask," said the Machop, who took a seat on the floor. "Well, as for how I can talk, I honestly have no idea. I kept listening to trainers and hikers passing by, and eventually just… caught on. I dunno why I could learn it when no other Machop can. Or, for that matter, pretty much any other Pokémon."

Tom thought for a few seconds. "Wait a moment," he said. "When I give my Pokémon instructions, they know exactly what to do. Shouldn't that mean that almost all Pokémon understand human language, even if they can't speak it?"

"Well, kind of," said the Machop. "They understand simple things, like commands in a battle. Good luck trying to hold a conversation with one, though. Unless you know Pokémon Speak, I mean, but even that's not nearly as sophisticated as human language. Anyways, even if Pokémon understood Standard, most of them wouldn't be able to speak it. They don't have the right vocal chords or something. From what I hear, even the few Pokémon that can talk do it telepathically, not vocally. That's what's funny, you see – I apparently have both human vocal chords and human language comprehension. I think like a human and talk like a human… but I'm still a Pokémon." There was something sad about its face as it finished speaking.

"So, next question," said Tom. "Why did you tell me to catch you?"

"Oh yeah," said the Machop, "that. You see, I don't really fit in with the other Pokémon very well. I'm just not like them. So for maybe a week now, I've been observing trainers, looking for one I felt was worthy of being my master. Well, tonight I found one. The way you kept your focus when all of those ugly creatures aimed their guns at you, how you knew right away what to do… it was awesome. You even got a few of them taken down, and at least one more had been weakened so much that it could only take one hit from me. I waited until you were the last one in the cave, and then told you to catch me. So that you'd be the only one that knew about my… ability, you see. I definitely wouldn't want more of that kind of attention. You didn't tell the two people you were with, did you?"

"No," said Tom. "I don't think they would have believed me."

"Well, thank that armored woman for me for saving my life the next time you see her."

"I'm not so sure there will be a next time I see her," said Tom. "It was only chance that we met in the first place. Her name was Samus Aran, by the way." He paused, obviously waiting to see if the name sparked a reaction. It didn't. "I take it you haven't heard of her. She's this famous bounty hunter, you see; she's saved a lot of people, and killed a lot of Space Pirates."

The Machop shrugged. "I only know what little I do know about human affairs from the hikers and trainers I've listened in on. Space Pirates are those ugly things you fought in the cave, I take it?"

"Yeah," said Tom. "Wow, you didn't even know about those, huh?" He lay down on the bed, facing the ceiling. "But on the other hand, there's a lot I don't know about the Pokémon world. Like, what's it like inside of a Pokéball? It is true what I've heard – that it puts you in some kind of virtual world with all the other captured Pokémon?"

"Is it virtual?" asked the Machop, who was now seeking out an accommodation of its own around the walls. "I wouldn't know. All I know is that I go somewhere… somewhere that seems to stretch on forever. Besides a whole lot of unexciting rocky ground, all I've seen so far is a couple other Machop, but I didn't have much time to explore. Freed Machop and Machoke I've talked with have said that they've only seen other fighting-types there, so maybe it's different for each type. Anyways, there's some sort of, I dunno, machine that you start out inside of every time. I know you can see the through your Pokéball to the outside world if you stay in it, and I've heard that it sometimes does other things, too." It lay down on a mattress not far from Ralph. "I assumed I had just been sent somewhere else, but I guess it could all be virtual. Either way, I'd rather stay here with humans like you than there with other captured Pokémon. I don't connect as well with other Pokémon as other Pokémon do. Would you mind keeping me out of my Pokéball as much as possible?"

Tom yawned loudly; he appeared to be struggling to stay awake. "I'll see what I can do," he said. "By the way, I've thought up a nickname for you."

"What is it?"

"Manny. Man-like, you see. Also, it uses the first two letters of your species name, which is sort of a pattern I have going."

"Manny?" said the Machop. "I could get used to it. Hey, speaking of names, I never got yours."

"It's Tom. Tom Tasby."

* * *

"This thing is really cool!" said Manny as he tinkered with me. It was morning, and as Tom ate breakfast at the cafeteria, Manny sat beside him. Manny had taken his own breakfast out of the Pokémon pen to eat with Tom, but now that he was finished, he had decided to take a look at this Ultradex thing Tom had just been talking about.

"I guess," said Tom. "He's kind of a jerk though."

"Listen, bud," I retorted, "anyone who has to spend as much time as I do in your greasy, disgusting hands would end up being a jerk as well."

"Whatever," said Tom, who nonetheless glanced at his hands. But then something else caught his attention: April Maywood had just arrived at the cafeteria, and was now seated at the opposite end of the room. "I'll be right back," Tom said while getting up from his chair.

Tom walked over to April, who looked up at him. "Hey," Tom said, "we never got a chance to battle earlier. Want to give it a shot after breakfast?"

April formed a sort of half-smile. "Sorry," she said, "but there wouldn't be any point to it. I saw what you could do back in that cave; I already know that I don't have a chance against you."

"You're sure you don't even want to try?" asked Tom.

"No," said April, "there's no need. If there were anything I could gain from battling you now, I've already gained it in that cave. But don't worry – I'm going to keep training, and even if it takes a while, I'm sure I'll get a chance to face you eventually… and when that happens, I'll be ready."

* * *

"Let's get started," said Tom. "Go, Manny!"

Tom was on Nugget Bridge, a golden bridge on Route 24 (just north of Cerulean City) set over a wide river. His opponent, a teenage girl with blue eyes and wavy blonde hair, stood nearby as Manny, who had already been walking alongside Tom, ran in front of the trainers to where the two-on-two battle was about to begin.

"Go, Bellsprout!" the girl yelled; a moment later, a stem with two leaves and a long, yellow head stood opposite to Manny.

"Karate Chop!" Tom commanded.

"Sleep Powder!" said the girl as Manny ran towards Bellsprout.

The Bellsprout spat a green powder out of its mouth. Machop rolled to his side to dodge it, and then he ran up to the Bellsprout and quickly Karate Chopped it. The Bellsprout fell down from the impact, but got back on its feet (eh, roots) swiftly.

"Now! Sleep Powder!" said the girl.

"Dodge it and Karate Chop again!" said Tom.

Manny, however, had no time to dodge the attack; the Bellsprout was right in front of him, and when it spat out more Sleep Powder, Manny became covered in the green substance almost immediately. The effect was nearly instantaneous: Manny sat down, then he lay down, and then he closed his eyes.

"Manny, no!" said Tom. "Come back!" He put Manny back into his Pokéball. "Go, Pippa!" Pippa appeared in front of him. "Use Gust!" Tom said.

"Sleep Powder again!" said Tom's opponent.

Pippa flapped her wings, causing a strong wind to blow towards the Bellsprout, who spat out more powder. The powder was simply blown away by the wind. The Gust began to tear the Bellsprout's skin in several places, causing green liquid to ooze out. When the wind finally stopped blowing, the Bellsprout fell down and stopped moving.

"Bellsprout, come back!" said the girl, and the Bellsprout glowed white and returned to its Pokéball. "Go, Goldeen!"

A white fish with orange markings and a white horn on its head emerged from its Pokéball, not on the bridge in front of the trainers, but in the water beside them; as it did so, however, Pippa began to glow white. After a moment passed, her white silhouette grew larger; the feathers on her head grew longer and curled back; her tail grew longer, as did her legs. Soon she stopped growing, and the white glow about her faded, revealing not a Pidgey, but a Pidgeotto.

"Okay, Goldeen, use Horn Attack!" said the girl, giving Tom no time to celebrate.

"Gust!" Tom said.

The Goldeen jumped out of the water on a path straight towards Pippa, who flapped her wings vigorously, blowing wind towards her opponent. The Goldeen was put to a stop in midair and then blown backwards, eventually splashing back into the river.

"Use Supersonic!" said Tom's opponent.

"Finish it off with Quick Attack!" said Tom.

Pippa's Quick Attack was too fast for the Goldeen; even though the latter was submerged a foot underwater, the force of Pippa's beak against the river's surface pierced the water almost as if it wasn't there. After Pippa's attack hit the Goldeen, the newly-evolved Pidgeotto flew back to the bridge while the orange fish started sinking into the river.

"That's enough," said the girl. She withdrew her Goldeen; Tom withdrew Pippa. The girl gave Tom some money and said, "Good battle."

"Yeah," Tom agreed. The two of them said good-bye to each other and then the girl walked off towards Cerulean City. Tom released Manny from his Pokéball. He was still asleep, as would be expected. Tom shook Manny, saying, "Hey, wake up!" After a few seconds Manny opened his eyes and looked at Tom.

Manny stood up, yawning loudly. "Did you win?" he asked.

"Yep," said Tom. He told Manny about the battle as they continued walking across the bridge and eventually got to the end of it. After the bridge was a dirt path, which quickly came to a fork; Tom went to his left, and Manny followed. "Why are we going this way again?" Manny asked.

"I told you, I want to catch an Abra," said Tom. "Dexter told me that there are some wild ones around Route 24."

"Without the slightest thanks, I might add," I said.

"Of course I didn't thank you!" Tom said angrily. "You called me a 'hopeless wad of ineptitude' with an 'underdeveloped brain' right after telling me!"

Maybe I messed with him so much because he made it so easy.

They were now walking through tall grass. A bit more than five minutes passed, during which time they saw a Caterpie, a couple of Pidgey, and an Oddish, but not an Abra. Finally, upon peeking through a small hole in the grass, Tom found what he was looking for. The small, yellow Abra was sitting down, stretching its two legs in front of it and its long, fat tail behind it. Its upper body was brown, but its fox-like head, which had slits for eyes, was also yellow.

"Manny, use Low Kick," Tom whispered.

Manny ran out into the clearing, causing the Abra to turn its head to look at him. Just as Manny began his slide in front of the Abra, however, it disappeared, leaving Manny to use Low Kick on thin air.

"What happened?" Tom asked nobody in particular in a frustrated tone.

"It used Teleport," I explained. "Abra are very hard to catch – they Teleport somewhere else at the first sign of danger."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Tom asked angrily.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," I answered, not hiding my amusement.

"Oh, whatever," sighed Tom. "Let's just keep looking."

It wasn't long before he found another Abra. Instead of trying to weaken this one, he threw a Pokéball at it immediately. Upon hitting the Abra, the Pokéball opened and beamed the Abra into it in a flash of light; it almost instantly snapped back open, releasing the Abra. The Abra then Teleported away.

The next wild Abra was the same story. The one after that Teleported before the Pokéball even reached it. "Alright," said Tom, "enough of this. Go, Buddy!" He released his Butterfree from his Pokéball. When the next Abra was spotted a minute later, Tom whispered, "Buddy, use Sleep Powder!" Buddy fluttered his wings, and a green powder gently floated from him to the Abra. Tom readied a Pokéball, but before he threw it, the Abra Teleported away. "_What?"_

"Oh yeah," I said, "Abra can sense danger and use Teleport in their sleep. I thought that should be a surprise too."

Tom spent nearly an hour walking through the grass and failing to catch Abra, becoming more and more irritable as time passed. His next-to-last Pokéball, after failing to hit several other Abra on time, finally made contact. It shook… and shook… and shook… and then snapped open, releasing the Abra, which, like all the others, Teleported away. This close call was the last straw for Tom, who swore so loudly it might have been audible from Cerulean City. He got on his knees and pounded the dirt with his fist; his body was completely tense, and shivering in rage.

"Um... Tom?" said Manny. When Tom didn't respond, he continued, "Um, that Abra… it's on your back."

Tom shot his head up, startled. He looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, there was the Abra, sitting on his back as if it were just another piece of ground. Tom jumped up to his feet, but then couldn't find the Abra anywhere.

"Gotcha!" shouted Manny, causing Tom to turn and notice the Abra in Manny's arms. But then the Abra wasn't in his arms. Looking around quickly, Tom saw it behind him; he pulled out his last Pokéball, but then the Abra wasn't there anymore. Then it was there again.

"Little dude's playing around with you," said Manny.

This playing around went on until the Abra Teleported right under Buddy, who promptly used Sleep Powder. Before it got a chance to Teleport away in its sleep, Tom threw his last Pokéball at it. The Pokéball shook… and shook… and shook some more… and then stood still. Tom let out a tremendous sigh of relief.

"Nickname?" I asked.

"It's male, so I'll go with Albert," said Tom.

"That was quick," I noted. "I see you've already thought about this."

"Yep," said Tom. He picked up Albert's Pokéball. "I'm hungry," he said, now sounding at ease. "Let's go back to Cerulean City and have some lunch."

* * *

After lunch, Tom spent the rest of the day training on Route 24. It was then that he found out that training an Abra was just as impossible as training a Metapod – while a Metapod could only Harden, an Abra could only Teleport. Albert didn't seem to mind, and for the most part, was okay with goofing around instead of training. Or even goofing around while supposedly training. Meanwhile, Tom paid special attention to Ralph's progress. Tom knew that Ralph, an electric-type, would be his key to beating Misty, the Cerulean City Gym Leader who specialized in water-type Pokémon. Interestingly, while Ralph had seemed less determined than Tom's other Pokémon before, he now trained with a new resolve, one that, Tom noted in a conversation with Manny, he could not find a suitable explanation for. It was very fortunate nonetheless, because Tom trained Ralph harder than anyone else in preparation for facing Misty.

After a day of training, Tom decided that he would try to get his second badge the next morning.

And so, the next morning, Tom went to Cerulean Gym. Cerulean Gym looked a lot like Pewter Gym on the outside, but very different on the inside. Most of the main room was taken up by a huge pool. A tile floor ran around the edge of the room, and there was a large dock just above the surface of the pool, branching out at various points. Many people and Pokémon were swimming in the water. At the end of the dock sat a redheaded girl with a ponytail who wore a blue bathing suit. Tom and Manny walked on the dock and over to her. "You're Misty?" he asked.

"Sure am," she said. "What's up?"

"I'm here for the Cascade Badge," said Tom.

"Figures," said Misty. She put to her mouth a whistle which hung from her neck and blew on it. Tom looked around and noticed that everyone was getting out of the water and onto the tile floor. "The pool is a battlefield," Misty explained, "so I make everyone gets out before a battle begins. Okay, you know what to do, right?"

"Right."

"Then let's begin. Come on out, Staryu!"

"Manny, you're up!"

A star-shaped Pokémon with tan limbs, a yellow body, and a red jewel in its center appeared in the water beside Misty. Manny jumped in front of Tom, ready to fight.

"Use Focus Energy!" Tom commanded.

"Water gun!" Misty shouted.

Manny stretched his limbs out and tensed his muscles. The Staryu used its one limb not submerged in the pool to shoot a stream of water; Manny held up his open-palmed hand to block the attack, which hit his hand and spread out in every direction. Manny began sliding backwards, so he jumped to the side. The Water Gun ended.

"Now, use Karate Chop!" said Tom.

Manny jumped forwards, his right arm outstretched and his hand ready to chop the Staryu. But before he got to his opponent, it dived into the pool, leaving Manny to chop nothing but water. Wading water, the Staryu beneath him, Manny looked unsure of what to do; Tom looked unsure of what to tell him.

"Use Tackle!" said Misty.

Suddenly, the Staryu shot upwards towards Manny, hitting him hard with its entire body. Then it dove back underwater.

"Okay, this is just silly," said Tom. "Manny, come on back." Tom withdrew Manny into his Pokéball.

"Go, Ralph!" said Tom. Ralph was beamed onto the dock in front of Tom. "ThunderShock the pool!" Tom said.

"Quick, get out of there!" cried Misty.

An electric current instantaneously flowed from Ralph's cheeks to the pool. For an instant, the entire pool lit up as the shock was conducted. Then the Staryu, who had been rising in the water, fell to the bottom of the pool and lay on its back.

Some people in the crowd around the pool cheered; Tom only now seemed to realize that they were watching. "Staryu, come back!" said Misty as she withdrew her Staryu back into its Pokéball. "Go, Starmie!"

Another star-shaped Pokémon materialized in the water. This one looked like two Staryu stuck together back-to-back, except that its limbs were purple instead of tan and the red jewel in its center was larger.

"ThunderShock!" said Tom.

"Water Pulse!" said Misty.

Once again, the pool lit up with electricity; as it did, however, a ball of water was shot at Ralph, hitting him and knocking him down. Before he could get up, Misty yelled, "Recover!"

For a second, a faint green glow appeared around Starmie.

"Uh oh," said Tom. "Ralph, try using ThunderShock again!"

"Starmie, use Water Pulse, and Recover if you get hit!"

The Starmie jumped out of the water. An electric shock appeared from Ralph's red cheeks to the Starmie in the air as Starmie shot another ball of water at Ralph. The ball of water made contact; meanwhile, the Starmie fell back into the water and glowed green for a second again as it used Recover.

Things were not going great for Tom. "Ralph, return!" he said, and Ralph returned to his Pokéball. "Go, Buddy!"

Buddy appeared before Tom. "Use Sleep Powder!" Tom ordered.

"Get underwater!" said Misty.

The Starmie dove underwater as the green powder falling from Buddy's wings floated on the pool surface. "It can't hide forever!" said Tom.

"Oh yes it can!" said Misty. "Use Water Pulse!"

"Dodge it and use Gust!" said Tom.

The Starmie's Water Pulse almost completely blended in with the pool water surrounding it; as a result, Buddy was still searching for the attack when it hit him from below. Buddy then released his own attack by flapping his wings vigorously, causing a mighty wind to blow. The Gust was powerful enough to form a whirlpool above the Starmie; inside of it, Sleep Powder from Buddy's earlier attack sank into the pool. Buddy finished his Gust, and the whirlpool slowly disappeared, but the Starmie lay on its back, asleep but not yet defeated.

"Shoot!" Misty cursed.

"Way to go, Buddy!" said Tom. "Come on back, you've done your job!" Tom put Buddy back into his Pokéball. "Get back here, Ralph!"

Ralph reappeared on the dock. "Use ThunderShock!" said Tom.

"Starmie, wake up!" said Misty.

But Starmie did not wake up as Ralph's ThunderShock illuminated the pool again, delivering the battle's final blow.

"Come back, Starmie!" said Misty.

"Come back, Ralph!" Tom said.

Both Pokémon returned to their Pokéballs. The crowd of people standing around the pool cheered. Misty smiled. When the cheering had ended and people had started returning to their own matters, she said, "You did really well. For a while I was sure I could beat you."

"You're the one who almost overcame the type advantage I had with Ralph," said Tom.

"That doesn't mean anything," said Misty. "To be a single-type trainer, you have to know how to overcome type advantages in whatever ways you can. I've been one long enough that electric-types don't even worry me more than any other type now. Point is, you did great. Now here, take this." She gave him the Cascade Badge. "You can take this, too," she said, and gave him a small disk. "It's T.M. 03 – Water Pulse."

"Thanks a lot," said Tom. He released Manny from his Pokéball before making his way to the gym's exit.


	7. Cerulean's Outskirts

Bill's Sea Cottage wasn't so much a cottage as it was a laboratory. The far side of the room at its entrance, at least, was completely metallic, and the doors to the actual laboratory were visible on its wall. Nearer to the entrance, though, was a more homey area, with couches under the windows and a round table in front of them. Two people sat across from each other at this table. One was Samus Aran, who had removed her armor upon entering the cottage. She now wore her blue, skin-tight Zero Suit; her pale face and long blonde hair were now free from the cover of a helmet. Across from her sat Bill himself, a well-dressed, brown-haired young man.

"After dropping the kids off at Cerulean City," continued Samus, "I went back to Mt. Moon to search for the remaining Pirates. I looked everywhere both on the surface and in the caves of the mountain, but found nothing – not even the vessel they came here in. After searching all night and well into the morning, even though I still hadn't had any success, I knew there was something else I had to do: make known the method the Pirates used to sneak themselves onto Pocket. Until Pocket's defenses are modified to shoot down natural as well as unnatural invading bodies, more Pirates will be able to come here – and more Pirates are the last thing we need on our hands. So I went into town and started asking around to find someone with connections to the Federation. I heard about a 'Pokémaniac' named Bill who had invented some of the technology the governing bodies around here use. So I went over to your place."

"I see," said Bill, whose expression had gone from excited to serious while listening to Samus's story. "And that's where we are now."

"Right," said Samus. "So if you could just inform this planet's defense maintenance that…"

"Of course," Bill said while standing up. "I'll get right on it." He walked over to the computer near the metallic wall and sat down at it. "The Governor will know what to do… I just need to write to him of our predicament…."

"Have any asteroids or meteors with clearance to fall on Pocket done so since last night?" Samus asked.

Bill took a minute to look up the answer. "No," he finally said, "the one you came here on was the last one scheduled for a few days."

Samus sighed in relief; no Pirates had come that she didn't already know about. Then she asked another question: "Hey, while you're at it, can you get my own ship cleared to enter Pocket?"

"Certainly," said Bill. He spent the next five minutes typing away at his computer, after which he exclaimed, "Done!"

"Good," said Samus. "There's one more thing I'd like to ask about, though. What do you know about the Chozo who lived on Pocket?"

Bill looked a bit puzzled. "Well, there was definitely an ancient civilization of some sort on Pocket before we humans came, and there is indeed one theory speculating this to have been a Chozo civilization, but nothing has been confirmed…."

"Consider it confirmed, then," said Samus. "I saw a Chozo statue myself in Mt. Moon's caves."

"You're kidding!" said an ecstatic Bill. "So Oak and Elm were right – and here I had thought it was more likely the Luminoth! Ah, wait till I tell everyone about this…." He began doing something on his computer.

"I guess the answer is 'not much', then," said Samus.

Bill stopped, remembering Samus's question. "No, I'm afraid that's correct," he said. "There are many known relics of the civilization which – contrary to the widely held belief that this was done by humans – invented the Pokéball, but obviously not enough has been found to even make clear the fact that they were, indeed, Chozo."

"But the Chozo never make one statue and then stop. You've really never found any of them?"

Bill shook his head. "You have to consider how recently humans came to Pocket," he said. "We've only had so much time to look, and we didn't even know what we were looking for. It wasn't one of our top priorities, either."

"And they could have hidden their most treasured items so that only fellow Chozo – like me – could find them," added Samus. "That seems like something they'd do."

"What do you mean, 'like you'?" inquired Bill.

"Well, in a way," answered Samus. "They're the ones who raised me… and, more importantly, made my Power Suit."

Bill was stunned by this information. For a few seconds, both of them were silent. Then Samus stood up. "I'd better head back," she said.

"To where?" asked Bill.

"To the mountains," said Samus. "I want to at least find the remains of that pod those Pirates came here in. Or the Pirates themselves, if I'm lucky." She almost laughed at the idea of being "lucky" to encounter Space Pirates.

"Wait!" said Bill. "I think I can help you!"

"How?"

"With your Power Suit handy, I might be able to update your logbook," Bill answered. "I just have to connect it to a Pokédex via cable, transfer the software and data, and you'll have all the Pokémon-related information you'll need!"

"Pokédex?"

"Basically, it's a handheld device with access to all the research gathered on Pocket. You can find information in them that you'd never get in the Database... or anywhere else, for that matter."

Samus thought about it. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "Won't do any harm, anyways. If I'm going to be staying near these critters, I might as well get some more info on them."

* * *

Light rain dripped down Samus's visor as she lay down on the steep mountainside. The sun had almost set, and the approaching rainclouds made it even darker. Samus was some odd mix of frustrated and relaxed. The frustration stemmed from the fact that her day spent searching for Pirates had been almost completely fruitless. She had, eventually, found the space pod – which really did her no good whatsoever, since the pod had no useful information or, really, anything of note at all. Yet she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable calm, as if her lack of progress wasn't important or a just cause of worry. The rain got harder, and as Samus looked around at the mountain range surrounding her, her mellowness increased. She almost wished she could take her suit off and fall asleep right there – not that it was necessary; her suit's chemical chamber could relieve her of any need for sleep or food for weeks. But as long as there was a slim chance that some Pirates remained nearby, rest was not an option.

It was now pouring rain, and a flash of lightning in the distance pierced through the darkness for a split second. Samus considered passing the time by looking through her logbook for more information on Pokémon, as she had done earlier that afternoon. But before she started, something caught her attention: when lightning flashed again, it seemed to reveal the presence of something in the sky.

Samus waited. The next flash of lightning confirmed that there was definitely something there – a dark outline just at the top of the bolt of lightning, and just in front of it. With the next flash, Samus could make out that it was a bird of some type, albeit a very large one. She scanned it, and thanks to Bill's upgrade, the following words appeared on her visor:

ZAPDOS

A legendary Pokémon almost always seen inside thunderclouds. It is said to be responsible for the bolts of lightning dropped from these clouds.

Samus watched the dark outline of the bird while the rain continued pouring down. It appeared to be facing her, though in the darkness, it was hard to tell. Then there was another dark outline: something fell from the Zapdos to the ground. Samus was conflicted; she didn't want to get too close to the legendary Pokémon, but she was intrigued by the falling object. Luckily for her, at that moment, the Zapdos began flying away. As it did, the rain began calming down. When Samus decided that the Zapdos had flown a suitable distance, she made her way over to where she had seen the object fall.

By the time Samus got there, the rain had almost completely stopped. Resting on the ground was a silver ring, just large enough to fit on Samus's Arm Cannon. Three electrical impulses met in the ring's center. Samus recognized it as the same type of electrical Wave Beam that she had found on Tallon IV.

* * *

Tom was walking on a field at the very edge of Cerulean City; the Nugget Bridge was straight ahead. Having just gotten his second badge, he was in a very good mood, as could be derived from his constant whistling (I had told him my opinion of his musical abilities, but he just ignored me). The whistling slowed to a stop, though, when he saw something that made his breath itself pause: Jude Tutino was on Nugget Bridge, walking towards him.

Tom hadn't moved a muscle by the time Jude was standing right in front of him. "Oh, it's you," said Jude, looking at Tom as if he were something nasty Jude had just stepped in. He looked over at Manny. "I see you've finally found yourself a girlfriend," he said, smirking slightly.

"He's male," said Tom. "I found him in Mt. Moon while I was fighting Space Pirates with Samus Aran."

The incident had been all over the news, of course – but never mentioning Tom by name. Jude's smirk grew slightly larger. "You really suck at lying, you know," he said. "Predictable, I guess, since you suck at everything else too. Fighting Space Pirates, huh? Well, you didn't say _winning_… I guess you could've watched one hand it to you before getting your ass saved, and decided that counts…."

"Actually, I took down four of them," said Tom. "And this Machop here took down another."

Tom was succeeding: Jude was now visibly struggling to act impassive. "I told you that you suck at lying; this one just keeps getting less and less believable. Here's a tip for future reference: nobody likes a guy who keeps making silly claims about how great he is…."

Tom was burning with rage. "And what about you, Jude?" he asked in a mock impersonation of a casual voice. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, not much," Jude answered. "Collecting badges and all that. Have you won any of those yet?"

"Two, in fact," said Tom.

If he had wanted to discourage Jude with this fact, he had failed. "Just two, huh?" said Jude. "I guess that's a start." He lifted one side of his vest to reveal three badges hanging inside of it. Tom was flushed. "Don't give up, though," said Jude. "I'm sure if you try hard enough, you might even be a decent trainer someday."

"I _am_ a decent trainer!" shouted Tom, who again was burning in anger. "Do you want me to prove it right now?"

"A Pokémon battle already? And here we'd just begun to get caught up," said Jude. "Oh well. Does three-on-three work for you?" Tom nodded. Jude took a Pokéball out of one of his pockets. "This'll be good practice for a real battle, at least. Go, Growlithe!"

"Go, Ralph!"

Tom and Jude released the Growlithe and the Pikachu in front of them. Growlithe had orange fur with black stripes and cream-colored mane on his chest and on his bushy tail. As was the protocol, the battle began as soon as both Pokémon had appeared.

"Ralph, use Double Team!"

Ralph ran away from Tom and Jude, to Growlithe's side, and after reaching a certain point, ran back. As he did, he appeared to split into two Ralphs, and as he continued running back and forth, those Ralphs split into more Ralphs. Soon Growlithe was facing a line of Ralphs running in opposite directions, apparently passing through each other.

"Growlithe, use Flame Wheel on the whole lot of them!" said Jude.

Growlithe tensed up, and a ball of red flames suddenly formed around him. He ran towards the line of Ralphs at an incredible speed, but passed right through it. Before he could try this again, Tom yelled, "Now, use ThunderShock!"

The Ralphs stopped running; about a dozen of them now stood up in the line and faced Growlithe. A streak of yellow flashed between Growlithe and the red cheeks of one of the Ralphs near the middle of the line. Growlithe recoiled slightly, and the ball of flames around him disappeared.

Jude hesitated for a second, and then said, "Use Roar!"

Growlithe opened his mouth and gave out a deafening Roar. Tom covered his ears (which was tricky, with me in one of his hands and a Pokéball in the other). As the Roar persisted, Ralph became white light; the Pokéball Tom was holding in his fingers (the palm of that hand was covering his ear) opened of its own accord, and Ralph was beamed back into it.

Tom let go of his ears and looked at Ralph's Pokéball. He thought for a second, and then said, "I guess that means you're up, Manny." Manny nodded in approval and walked forwards.

"Use Flame Wheel!" said Jude.

"Karate Chop!" said Tom.

A ball of flames encased Growlithe once again, and he ran towards Manny; Manny ran towards him. Once they were close, they both jumped into the air, Growlithe bowing his head and Manny's arm outstretched with an open palm. They met in the air within the ball of fire; Manny's outstretched hand crashed into Growlithe's head just before they both completely crashed into each other, stopping their motion in midair. They fell to the ground and sprinted away from each other, then turned to face each other again. Part of the arm Manny had used for the Karate Chop was blackened and smoking.

"He's burnt!" said Tom, pointing out the obvious.

"Use Flame Wheel again!" said Jude.

"Another Karate Chop!" said Tom.

The scenario played out just as it had previously; this time, however, once both Pokémon fell to the ground, Growlithe did not get up as Manny hopped away from him.

"Come back!" said Jude. Growlithe was returned to his Pokéball. "Go, Marshtomp!"

Another Pokémon was beamed onto the battlefield. Marshtomp looked much like Mudkip, which he had evolved from, but was larger and bipedal.

"Mud Shot!" yelled Jude.

"Low Kick!" shouted Tom.

Manny ran towards Marshtomp; as he did, Marshtomp spat a stream of mud out of his mouth. Manny tried to sidestep it, but Marshtomp turned his head just in time and the latter half of the stream hit Manny. Manny, who was now covered in mud, continued running after the attack, but he did so much slower than before. When he got close enough to use Low Kick, Marshtomp easily dodged the attack.

"Another Mud Shot!" said Jude.

"Try Low Kick again!" Tom shouted.

Another stream of mud shot out of Marshtomp's mouth; Manny was too slow and too nearby to dodge it, and got hit with its full force. Completely covered in mud, his arm still slightly smoking, Manny fell down, fainted.

"Come back!" said Tom, who opened his Pokéball to allow Manny to return into it. "Go, Buddy!"

Buddy appeared on the battlefield, flapping his wings to stay in the air. "Use Sleep Powder!" said Tom.

"Water Gun!" cried Jude.

Buddy flapped his wings harder, and a green powder came out of them and was blown towards Marshtomp. Marshtomp, meanwhile, opened his mouth and spat out a thin stream of water. The stream of water hit Buddy, but the green powder floated around it, eventually reaching Marshtomp and covering him. Marshtomp ceased his Water Gun. He slowly dropped until he was lying down; as he did, his eyes closed just as slowly. Soon he was fast asleep.

"Okay, Buddy, now Confuse the crap out of him!"

After the familiar pulse in the air, Marshtomp developed the familiar purple glow about him; when it went away, his eyelids tightened up and he made a distressing grunt, but he did not awaken. Marshtomp's eyelids still tight, Buddy used Confusion on him again, and when he did not awaken, again after that. Marshtomp's eyelids then relaxed, returning to normal.

"Come back!" said Jude. Marshtomp returned to his Pokéball. Excitement flowed through Tom; Jude was down to one against Tom's remaining two. Tom's excitement subsided a bit, however, when Jude shouted, "Go, Onix!"

A gigantic serpent of strung-together boulders appeared on the battlefield. Tom's expression became intense, presumably because he realized that Ralph wouldn't have a chance against Jude's last Pokémon… meaning Buddy would have to finish the job. "Use Sleep Powder!" Tom said.

"Dodge it and use Rock Throw!" said Jude.

Buddy flapped his wings, and a green powder came out of them and started floating towards Onix. Meanwhile, Onix opened his large mouth and spat a boulder at Buddy, who flew away just in time, but was forced to stop blowing the Sleep Powder towards his opponent in doing so. Both Tom and Jude commanded their respective Pokémon to use the same attack again. As a result, the scene repeated itself – but this time, the boulder scraped one of Buddy's wings.

"One more Rock Throw!" said Jude.

"Sleep Powder!" said Tom.

Buddy's wing was starting to bleed, and he looked like he was struggling to stay in the air. Onix spat another boulder at Buddy before he had a chance to attack. The full force of the boulder hit Buddy. When the boulder hit the ground, it rolled away, leaving Buddy lying face-down. Tom waited for him to get up, perhaps remembering how he had done so against all odds at Pewter Gym. But this time, Buddy did not get up.

"Buddy, come back!" said Tom. Buddy returned to his Pokéball. "Go, Ralph!"

Ralph appeared in front of Tom once again. He looked at the Onix in front of him and shot Tom a look that said, "We're in big trouble".

"Onix, just keep using Rock Throw!" said Jude.

"Use Double Team!" said Tom.

Ralph started running in a circle around Onix; soon, that circle was a yellow blur filled with running Ralphs. Onix seemed uncertain of what to do. He spat a boulder at the part of the circle of Ralphs directly in front of him, but the boulder simply went through it and rolled away.

"Now, Quick Attack!" said Tom.

The Ralphs stopped running and stood up, each one only about a foot apart from the ones adjacent to it. Then one of them rammed right into Onix in the blink of an eye. It happened so fast that the real Ralph had time to get back in the circle, which then turned back into a yellow blur of running Ralphs, before Onix could react. Onix, however, did not look very phased.

"Use Rock Throw!" Jude cried.

Onix spat out another rock, which again fell on the circle of Ralphs. At first, the rock appeared to have simply gone through the Ralphs again; when it did not roll away, however, the Ralphs began running in a larger circle to avoid it.

"Quick Attack!" Tom shouted.

Again, the attack was so fast it was difficult to see which Ralph was the culprit. The Ralphs began running again, this time in a larger circle to avoid the rocks left over from Onix's Rock Throws.

"Just keep using Rock Throw until you get him!" said Jude.

And so, time and time again, Onix would try Rock Throw and miss, and Ralph would then stop to use Quick Attack, which seemed to barely hurt Onix at all. Finally, Onix spat a boulder at Ralph that hit him head-on, making the circle from his Double Team disappear.

"Oh no," said Tom. "Come on, Ralph, one more Quick Attack!"

"One more Rock Throw!" said Jude.

Ralph jumped over the boulder that stood between him and Onix. Ralph rammed into Onix with great speed yet again; when he completed the attack, Onix took the opportunity to spit yet another boulder at him. This one did the job: it hit Ralph, slid on the ground a little, and then stopped. Ralph dropped from the boulder, fainted.

"Come back," said Tom, bewildered. Ralph entered his Pokéball, and so did Onix.

"See what I did when I told Growlithe to use Roar?" Jude gloated. "I knew that your Pikachu would be useless against my other two Pokémon, them both being partly ground-type, so I made sure not to fight it until later. That's called strategy. You should try it sometime."

Before Tom could respond to this, the two boys heard another voice yelling in the distance. As it got closer, it became clear that the voice was calling out Tom's name. Tom looked towards Cerulean City, where the voice was coming from, to see a boy with unkempt blonde hair running towards him. As the boy got closer, Tom realized who he was and a grin spread across his face.

"Hey, Tom!" Peter Embs was yelling. "Over here!"

Peter finally reached the spot where Tom and Jude stood looking at him. "Hi, Peter," said Tom.

"Hiya Tom," said Peter. He looked from Tom to Jude, who had long red hair. "You never told me you had a girlfriend!" Peter said.

"I'm a boy, you dimwit!" Jude lashed out.

"What's her name?" asked Peter, ignoring Jude.

Tom had to make himself stop chuckling to answer. "This is Jude Tutino," he said.

Peter looked at Jude. For a moment, he looked like he was trying to remember something; then, his face lit with comprehension. "Oh, right, Jude! Tom has told me all about you."

"I bet he has," said Jude, with a stone cold look on his face. "Did he tell you the story of how I'm apparently the cause of all of his troubles?"

"Um, yeah, something like that," said Peter.

"Of course he did," said Jude, now looking even colder. "And yet, ironically, he claims that _I'm _the one trying to turn people against _him_. Really, though, I would've liked him if he had just let me. Maybe he didn't because he just happened to be lonely and full of issues, and I just happened to be friends with all the other kids in town. I don't see why that's _my_ fault, but that must be how his envy makes him see it. I have nothing to do with any of his problems, and if he ever wants to get over them, he's going to have to realize that."

For a moment, Peter looked phased. Then he said, dismissively, "Look, that's all very nice and dramatic, but it has nothing to do with why I came here, so shut up for a second." He turned to Tom. "Tom, I've been looking all over Cerulean City for you. I have two badges now! We can move on to Johto! We just need to take the Magnet Train from Saffron, that's just south of here, and reach Goldenrod that way!"

"Oh, you're going to Johto?" said Jude. "Well, good, that means the whole region will be rid of you both. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

"Wait a sec," said Tom. "There's something I'm curious about. That Ultradex that Professor Oak gave you… does yours talk to?"

"Are you kidding?" said Jude. "The stupid thing never shuts up."

"Never shuts up? Are _you_ kidding? I have statistics, bud. Your words-per-day count is more than four times mine."

It was reunion time. "Brother!" I said. "How have you been?"

"Terrible," he replied. "I can't believe I got stuck with this egomaniac."

"I didn't get much better," I said. "The only thing that keeps me sane is how easy it is to get to him. Like kicking a puppy that keeps coming back for more."

"Well, those clothes he keeps sticking me in haven't been washed in _days_. I actually don't know how long it's been, because he's never washed them since he got me four days ago."

"Oh, that's nothing," I said. "I don't even want to _think_ about how many boogers I've come in contact with at this point. Yeah, he always thinks nobody's watching when he sticks his fingers up there, but… hey, where're we going?"

It was a short reunion. Tom's face glowing red, Jude clenching his teeth and squinting, they had started heading off in separate directions, though both went towards Cerulean City. Peter followed Tom.

"So where are we going, exactly?" asked Peter.

"To get my Pokémon healed," said Tom. "Half of them are fainted now. Then I want to go over to Bill's place – that's up on Route 24 – to get ourselves a couple of Eevees. He's handing them out to licensed trainers. That's probably what Jude was coming back from." There was a moment of awkward silence which Peter broke by talking about the Mankey he had caught to help him defeat Brock and Misty.

Peter continued recounting his experiences of the last two days while Tom got his Pokémon healed and, now with Manny at their side, they left the Pokémon Center, heading north back to the bridge. "Man, I can't wait to get back to Goldenrod…" Peter began.

This was a good opportunity to intervene with some important information – the type of stuff I _wouldn't_ want to leave as a surprise. "Yeah, about that," I began. "This is just in, but… Space Pirates have invaded Goldenrod City. They've taken over the Radio Tower there and are trying to keep the rest of the city, eh, pacified. Elite trainers are rushing there now to help fight back. Just thought you might want to know that."

Peter's face was paper-white. "My family's there…." he whispered. Then he began running faster than one would think possible. Tom went running after Peter, and Manny chased Tom.

Tom could see Peter several yards ahead of him as they all ran southward onto Route 5. "Wait up!" Tom yelled, but Peter did not stop or slow down. When it became clear that Tom was too slow to catch up to Peter, Tom said, "Manny, stop him!"

Manny bolted ahead of Tom and then ahead of Peter. He walked directly into Peter's path and stopped, causing Peter to trip over him.

"Wow, are you all right?" asked Tom.

"I'm fine," said Peter, who brushed dirt off of his clothes as he stood up. Tom grabbed Peter's arm to stop him from running away again. "Let me go," said Peter.

"What are you going to do?" asked Tom.

"Well, duh! I'm going to go fight the Pirates in Goldenrod! What else?" And he released himself from Tom's grasp and started running again. Tom followed in pursuit.

"You can't do that!" yelled Tom.

"Why not?" Peter yelled back.

"What do you mean, why not? You could get killed!"

"Tom, my family is there! I have to do something!"

"But you're not a good enough trainer yet! We need to leave this to people who can actually take care of it!"

"We can help those people, if it comes to that! But I'm not going to sit around and find out what happened later!"

"Why not?"

Peter stopped, surprising Tom, who stopped too. "Take off your hat," said Peter.

"What?"

"Just do it. Take off your hat and look at it." Tom did as he was told; he took off his hat and looked at it. It was a red cap with a white arch and white flap – of the same design as that which Red had worn. "Now, do you remember who else wore that hat? What would that person do in our situation?"

This seemed to strike Tom deep, and he didn't take his eyes away from the hat while he became consumed with thought. Just then, however, someone else sped over to the boys (and Machop) and came to a stop.

"What do you losers find so interesting?" said Jude.

"Just go away now, okay?" Tom said crossly.

"Whatever," said Jude. "There's some Space Pirates to kill in Goldenrod, but I guess you two are better off inspecting hats. See ya."

He sped off. Only seconds later, Tom, Peter, and Manny caught up with him.

* * *

The ensuing dash through the southern portion of Cerulean City and through Route 5 did not treat Tom well; I could tell he hadn't been kidding when he'd said that he wasn't athletic. He was almost drooling with exhaustion by the time they had gotten to Saffron City. There were some stunning skyscrapers nearby, but only one building caught the boys' attention: the Magnet Train station.

Entering the station revealed a loud and confusing scene. There were people everywhere, and most of them looked and sounded angry. "What's the big deal?" Peter asked nobody in particular.

"They're not letting the trains go," a woman in front of them said. "Something about it being too dangerous."

"What a load of…" started a woman next to her. "Wait, they're sending Kibo to... _talk_ some sense into the director. That should settle things."

Tom looked to the front of the room to see a man dressed in fighting robes walk into an office of some sort. I'm pretty sure he'd seen the man before, though probably just from pictures: Karate Master Kiyo was the leader of Saffron's Fighting Dojo. Looking around, Tom realized that Kibo wasn't the only familiar face: in fact, the two women standing right in front of him were Sabrina, leader of the Saffron Gym, and Misty herself. Misty noticed the three boys behind her. "I've faced you three before," she said, drawing their attention. "I know you all have talent and fairly strong Pokémon teams. But don't overestimate yourselves. Where we're going, if you slip up, it could mean your death."

People were now moving forwards. "Oh good, it looks like they couldn't resist Kibo's, um, _reasoning_." Half-smiling, she turned her head back again. "If any of you want to turn back, now's your last chance. It would be the sensible thing to do."

Nobody turned back.

"Your funeral," said Misty. "Come on then. Let's go kick some Space Pirate ass!"


	8. The Radio Tower

The train ride only took a few minutes. When the train stopped and the doors opened at Goldenrod Station, somebody yelled, "Let's go!" Everyone ran out the doors, with Tom, Peter, and Jude at the back of the crowd. As they ran through the train station, Pokémon began exiting their Pokéballs everywhere in sight. When the mob ran out through the large glass doors of the train station, they were accompanied by Pokémon of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

When the three kids got outside, they noticed that everyone had come to a stop. They got on their tiptoes to see above the crowd and saw why: a Space Pirate, one who had presumably been assigned to guard the station, stood in front of them. For a while, nobody moved; the Pirate was pointing its guns at the crowd from within its pincers. Then… _CRUNCH_.

It happened so fast that the Space Pirate never saw it coming; in an instant, its head was grotesquely crushed. A Hitmonchan stood to its right and a Hitmonlee to its left. The two Pokémon had attacked simultaneously, crushing the Pirate's skull between the Hitmonchan's fist and the Hitmonlee's knee. The Pirate fell down. The crowd remained still for a second as they processed what had happened and then let out a collective roar somewhere between a cheer and a battle cry. More Pokémon appeared on all sides; Tom let out Charlie, Ralph, Manny, Buddy, and Pippa. The crowd of humans and Pokémon began scattering in every direction. Tom looked around and saw Peter running away, followed by his Geodude, Grotle, and Mankey; Tom and his Pokémon ran after them.

Once again, Peter proved to be too fast for Tom, who was unable to close the gap between them before Peter and his Pokémon had run out of sight. Tom stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He was surrounded by tall buildings, blocking his ability to see anything beyond them. All was silent until he heard a grunt from behind one of the nearby buildings, which Tom instinctively turned to face. A blue, pincired Pirate walked into Tom's sight range, but did not immediately notice the teenage boy. His heart pounding furiously, Tom acted as soon as he had gotten a glimpse of his foe. "Charlie, Smokescreen!" he said. Just as the Pirate turned to the source of the unexpected noise, Charlie blew a cloud of smoke at it. The Pirate recoiled, blinded by the smoke. Tom was just starting to give another order when the Pirate was thrust into a nearby wall by what appeared to be a powerful jet of water. At the other end of the jet was a Starmie.

Misty, her Starmie, and a Golduck ran over to where the Pirate now was. The Pirate was beginning to stand up; Misty shouted, "Both, use Psychic!" It's difficult to describe what happened next, but there was a lot of warp-like distortion in the air, a lot of purple glow around the Pirate, and the Pirate experiencing something that looked like a seizure. When everything finally got calm, the Pirate lay unmoving on the ground.

"I got this one covered," said Misty, as if it needed saying. "Most of the action will be taking place around the Radio Tower – it's that way," she said, pointing somewhere behind Tom. "Good luck. I hope you don't need it."

"Thanks," said Tom, and he began running towards the Radio Tower, the tip of which was visible in the distance, peaking above most of the other buildings. He turned a corner to get a straighter path only to be treated to terrifying view.

A lone Pirate was facing a girl, one who looked slightly younger than Tom, with its pincers open. The creature grunted something, but the shivering girl just stuttered, "Please... don't understand... what do you want?" At this the Pirate gave out what was unmistakably a laugh. Its pincers then opened wider; the barrels of the guns inside of them extended mechanically.

What Tom did next took me completely by surprise, and not just because he started by dropping me to free his hand. He threw himself on the Pirate, grappling with its carapace, acting on impulse alone. Of course, he was no match for the Pirate whose back he was clinging onto, but before the Pirate could free itself of Tom, Manny took the opportunity to punch it in the stomach. The Pirate stopped struggling, causing Tom to slide off of it. "Seismic Toss!" said Tom, still managing to keep his focus. Manny grabbed the Pirate by the feet, jumped high into the air, and then threw it back to the ground, landing safely next to it a second later. When the Pirate attempted to get back up, Manny did the same thing again. At Tom's instruction, Charlie and Ralph finished it off with an Ember and ThunderShock, respectively.

As Tom stared down at the dead Space Pirate, he felt a finger tap his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw the short, blue-eyed, black-haired young girl who had almost been shot by the Pirate. "You saved my life," she said.

"Um... you're welcome," said Tom. "It was mostly my Machop though," he said; Manny stood next to him, raising his head triumphantly. "He did all the work, and for the most part all I did was act stupid and needlessly put myself in danger..."

"You jumped on that big scary Pirate and you didn't look the least bit scared at all!" the girl intervened, speaking quickly. "That was really great and brave and probably stopped him from shooting and hi I'm Opal what's your name?"

Tom was a bit taken aback. "I'm... Tom," he said. "Listen: what are you doing here?"

Opal's face stopped beaming so intensely. "I was just out catching Pokémon outside of town and when I came back these horrible things were here and one of them cornered me and and and..." she trailed off.

"You need to get out of here," Tom said sternly. "Where do you live?"

She pointed with her finger. "Just keep going that way and…."

"Okay, I'll take you there. Come on." He (and his Pokémon) and Opal took off in that direction. Opal steered Tom through a series of turns until they finally got to her house. Tom sped off towards the Radio Tower the moment she stepped inside, barely giving her time to thank him again.

About a minute later, Tom heard Peter's voice from behind him. "There you are!" Peter said, catching up to Tom as his Pokémon followed.

"Where'd you go off to in such a hurry?" asked Tom.

"What I came here for, of course," said Peter. "To make sure my family is safe. And they are, so let's get going to where the real fighting is! Oh, look, we're there already!"

Indeed, the Radio Tower was in clear view now, and as the kids ran closer, the battle scene surrounding it became clearer as well. "Chaos" would be the best way to describe it. Pirates, Pokémon, and trainers blended in to form one big violent mass teeming with plasma shots and elemental attacks. In the tower itself, Pirates were firing down upon their foes through the windows, but a few perceptive trainers had sent their flying-type Pokémon up there to deal with them.

Tom assimilated into the battle almost effortlessly. He deployed Charlie, Ralph, and Buddy to the battlefield while keeping Manny and Pippa as personal guards – should any Pirate dare try to attack Tom himself, Pippa would Gust it away (if it was behind him) or Manny would pick a fight with it instead (if it was in front). Meanwhile, Tom ordered around his other three Pokémon as they fought whatever Pirate was in their path, although there was usually other Pokémon fighting it too – the Pirates were definitely outnumbered. So much so, in fact, that Tom's Pokémon hardly ever took damage. Peter had joined the chaos as well not far from Tom, though Tom wasn't paying attention to anything other than his own Pokémon's part in the fight. He barely even noticed when missiles started flying into the crowd and hitting Space Pirates.

It wasn't just Tom, though; most people around the tower were too caught up in the battle to notice Samus Aran's arrival. This didn't last long; the number of Pirates on the ground outside the tower had already been diminished greatly, and Samus's intervention helped to bring the rest of them down to zero in no time. It was then, when the last Pirate fell, that Samus's arrival finally got a roaring cheer from the trainers in the crowd.

The fight, however, was not yet over. The Pirates who had, a moment earlier, been fighting from the tower's windows had now retreated back into the building. Samus, having noticed this, didn't spare a moment before jumping clear over the mob to the tower's entrance. She opened the doors and ran inside; the mob immediately followed her.

The Radio Tower had many floors, all of which passed by like one big blur as Tom moved with the crowd, following Samus up the tower. At the top of each staircase were Pirates who took advantage of the temporary higher ground, but who were quickly taken down by Samus and whatever Pokémon happened to be near her. There were also a few Pirates hiding elsewhere on some of the floors; these, too, were taken down without too much difficulty, though some Pokémon ended up having to be recalled. Tom himself never got the chance to use any of his Pokémon in these skirmishes, nor did Peter. The mob also passed by the dead bodies of some unfortunate people who had worked in the tower as it ascended the building.

Finally, Samus reached the top floor, the trainers and Pokémon right behind her. Tom had only just reached the top of the final flight of stairs when he saw the very last Pirate go down, killed by one of Samus's missiles. Now the mob really broke into a cheery applause, Tom with them. It was all over. The Pirates who had invaded Goldenrod City were all dead thanks to those who now stood in the Radio Tower's top floor. As the cheering continued, Samus walked over to Tom. Facing him, still covered from head to toe in armor, she simply said, "Can't say I expected to find you here." The cheering had died down and was now replaced with dozens of overlapping conversations. Peter was now right next to Tom, while Jude, whose presence Tom did not seem to notice, stood behind him. "Let's go," said Samus, who made her way towards the stairs. Wordlessly, Tom followed Samus, as did the rest of the crowd.

* * *

"Oh, great," Samus groaned. "Reporters."

She had just stepped outside of the Radio Tower to find a large and growing crowd already awaiting her, including a number of people with cameras and microphones. As the group inside the tower filtered out, most of their Pokémon now withdrawn, the reporters outside began approaching them – mostly in Samus's direction.

"I have to go," said Samus, who then started running to Tom's side. "No questions, please!" she shouted while running before she disappeared from Tom's vision.

"Who was that armored guy?" asked Peter over the noise of the bustling crowd.

"You mean Samus Aran?" said Tom.

The name didn't have an effect. "Who?"

"_Samus Aran_? The greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy?"

"Doesn't ring any bells."

Tom put his hand to his forehead for a second. "Didn't your v-scholar teach you _anything_ about recent history?"

"I might have skimmed through it."

"Excuse me," said a new voice. Tom looked in front of him to find its source: a young woman holding a microphone. Behind her was an overweight man holding a camera. "You look like you're the youngest trainers to come out of the Radio Tower after the battle." She held the mike in front of Peter. "Do you have any words for our live audience at JohtoTV?"

"Any words?" said Peter. "Let me think… piss, fuck, shit…."

The mike quickly moved from Peter to Tom. "Do you have any words to say _about the battle?_" the woman asked.

"That's… I don't know," said Tom. "Can you be more specific?"

"You fought Space Pirates, right? What was it like? Was it scary? Exciting? Horrifying?"

Tom hesitated before answering. "Really, it just felt natural," he said. "Like instinct. I just focused on commanding my Pokémon and didn't think about much else. But then, it's not like I hadn't fought them before, so…."

"What do you mean by that?" asked the interviewer, her eyes sparkling with interest.

"Well, I fought them at Mt. Moon when they arrived…."

"You mean _you_ were the one of the children Samus Aran is reported to have traveled through Mt. Moon with?"

"Yeah," Tom said, sweating with the anxiety of being in front of a camera. "It was me and this other girl – whoa, there she is now!"

He was looking in the direction that Samus had run off in and seeing the golden gunship just beyond the crowd. Samus was helping two people get out of the ship: a young man and a teenage girl wearing a red bandana. Tom sped off towards them, abandoning the bewildered reporter. Manny, the one Pokémon Tom had kept out, followed.

"April? What are you doing here?" Tom asked when he reached the gunship. Reporters were beginning to approach them, but Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at them and yelled, "I said no questions! Back off!" They immediately complied.

"I actually come from here," said April. "You see…." She stopped talking when she noticed another boy arriving at the scene: Peter. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asked crossly.

"You know Tom?" Peter asked April.

"You know April?" Tom asked Peter.

"You know Peter?" April asked Tom.

They looked at each other. "Anyways," April said, ignoring the interruption, "back in Kanto, I went to see Bill here to get one of the Eevee he's handing out." She pointed to the young man talking with Samus behind them. "But when I got to his cottage, Samus was there, and so was her ship. She was about to come here to fight the Space Pirates, and she was bringing Bill with her, since he has family here. Well, I have family here too – I was actually going to come back here after my second badge anyways. So they let me come with them, and Bill and I just stayed in the ship until the invasion had been fought off."

"If you're from here, why were you in Kanto in the first place?" asked Tom.

"Misty," said April. "She's an old family friend – she even gave me my Pachirisu. I wanted to get a badge from her before coming back to Johto."

"Sounds familiar," Tom mumbled, shifting his eyes to Peter and back.

"So you're the other one who Samus accompanied through Mt. Moon?"

Tom turned around to see Bill facing him. "Yeah," he said.

"You can call me Bill," said Bill, holding out his hand for Tom to shake.

"I'm Tom Tasby," Tom said while shaking Bill's hand. "I was actually on my way to your place before the invasion. My friend Peter here, too."

"Is that so?" said Bill. "You heard about the Eevee, I assume?" Tom nodded. "Well, how about this. Samus and I were just about to go have dinner at my family's place – if you two want to join us, I could give you what you want there!"

"Well…" Tom began.

"Actually," Peter interrupted, "I was going to go to my own family's place for dinner. I haven't seen them in more than a week." He turned to Tom. "You can come if you want, but if you don't…."

"I'll come," said Tom. He turned back to Bill. "Sorry, Bill."

"No problem!" said Bill. "It's not like I've gotten a chance to drop the Eevee off there or anything of the like – I still have them with me, of course." He took off his backpack, put it on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out two Pokéballs. "Here." He gave one to Tom. "This one is a female…" He gave the other one to Peter. "…and this one is male."

"What about April?" asked Tom.

"I told you, I've already been to Bill's place," said April. "He gave me an Eevee on the way here."

"Now, how many Pokémon did you two already have in your party?" asked Bill.

"Three," answered Peter; "Six," answered Tom.

"A full party, then!" Bill said excitedly, looking at Tom. "I was hoping one of you would say that – now I get to show you the nature of my storage system! Can you show me your Pokédex for a moment?"

Tom pulled me out of his pocket for Bill to see. Bill took me in his hands, looked me over, and then slid out a special compartment in me with an imprint meant to fit Pokéballs. He handed me back to Tom. "Just put the Pokéball I gave you in that imprint and you'll be set."

Tom did as Bill told him to; before long, the Pokéball had completely disappeared.

"It's been teleported to my lab now," said Bill. "There, it'll be taken proper care of – all of the food and water it needs will be sent to its location within the Pokéball while in storage. I say 'within' for the lack of a better word – Pokéballs don't keep Pokémon _inside_ of them, but rather, transport them to a new habitat, which is where the supplies will be sent." Manny looked to Tom at this point; Tom shot him a quick glance as Bill continued. "The important point is that you can keep a Pokémon in the storage system as long as you want to. I'll often even share it with other scientists for research… without harming it, of course."

"Um, Bill," said Tom, "where exactly are Pokémon sent to by their Pokéballs?"

Bill half-smiled. "That's quite a popular question," he said. "The honest answer is that I don't know. Nobody does. It's been a mystery ever since Pokéballs were discovered upon Pocket's colonization nearly half a century ago."

"They were _discovered_?" April said in surprise.

"Indeed they were," said Bill. "Their original manufacturer was a mystery… until, perhaps, now. Which is why Samus and I have so much to talk over."

Peter was growing impatient. "It's getting late – we need to get going!" he said. "Thanks for the Eevee, Bill!" Without warning, he ran off. Tom waved Bill good-bye and followed, Manny keeping pace behind him.


	9. Goldenrod City

Tom barely managed to keep up with Peter as they ran through Goldenrod. They quickly got their Pokémon healed at a Pokémon Center; after that, Tom kept Manny in his Pokéball along with the rest of his Pokémon (presumably for the benefit of his introduction to Peter's family). Finally, they got to a plain-looking house no different than those around it; Peter had already gone inside by the time Tom caught up.

Peter was ecstatic to see his parents again; it took a minute of reunion before he got around to introducing Tom to them. Mr. Embs looked like an older, taller version of Peter, while Mrs. Embs looked like an older, taller version of….

"Opal?"

A short girl with long black hair and blue eyes had just walked into the room – the same girl Tom had saved earlier that day. She appeared at least as taken aback as Tom, widening her eyes and pointing a finger at him. "Mommy! Daddy!" she said. "This is that boy I was talking about earlier who jumped on that Space Pirate's back and saved me!"

"Well, that's not exactly how it happened," said Tom, burning up a bit, a hand on the back of his head. "I mean, it was really my Pokémon that did the saving, I really shouldn't have jumped on it myself like that…."

"Either way, we have quite a lot to thank you for," Mr. Embs said with a smile. "I don't want to think about what might have happened to Opal if you hadn't been there. Thank you so much for taking care of her."

"Um… you're welcome," said Tom, who now was really burning up.

"I guess you've already met my sister, huh?" said Peter. "Well, that speeds things up a little – which is good, because I'm starving right now."

* * *

The conversation at dinner mostly consisted of Peter talking excitedly about his day with his parents, with Opal also contributing whenever she had a chance. Apparently Peter had been keeping up with his parents, who had already heard about Tom and who seemed to already know about Peter's adventures in Kanto.

Tom, meanwhile, spent nearly the entire meal in silence. The moment he finished his plate, I received a call for him on my built-in phone. Successfully fulfilling my duties as usual, I rang; Tom excused himself from the table to go to an empty nearby room, where he allowed the call to go through.

The face of an aging woman with greying brown hair showed up on my screen. She did not look pleased. "Thomas, what the _hell_ is going on?" she bellowed. "First I see you on television in _Johto_, then there was some talk about you fighting _Space Pirates_, and then to top it all off, you mention having done this before as well! Am I being accurate so far?"

Tom was practically trembling. "Yeah, Mom… that's accurate," he said. "S…sorry."

"_Sorry_? You think saying that will make any difference?Good heavens, have you any idea how worried I've been for you? You have yet to call me, you hardly respond to any of my messages… and now I find out that you've been actively putting your life in danger! _Space Pirates_, good heavens… of all the things…."

Tom tried to speak, but only an incoherent stuttering came out, so he stopped.

"Don't you remember what I told you before you left?" Tom's mother continued. "It was a simple instruction, honestly. Just stay safe. Don't go around looking for danger. Now, I know that Pokémon training comes with plenty of its own danger, and I don't expect you to spend your life in a padded room, but… did you really go out of your way, all the way to Johto, just to be in the middle of a Space Pirate invasion?" Tom slowly nodded.

His mother sighed. "I'm sorry for getting so angry at you," she said. "It's just that… you know how much you mean to me, and… well, I feel like for the last five days, I've nearly lost contact with you. And now _this._" Her eyes were getting watery. "I just want to hear from you more, Thomas. To stay in touch, and also… to know that you're still okay, that you're still going. I don't want you putting yourself in terrible danger, but… I might be able to forgive it if I still can hear your voice, if I keep up with what you're doing. Do you promise to call every day from now on?" Tom nodded. "And, for goodness sake, don't get yourself killed!" Tom nodded again.

Tom's mother formed a melancholy smile. "I'll talk to you later then, Thomas. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom," Tom said nervously before my screen went blank.

"Well, you were certainly comforting and articulate," I said sarcastically.

"She was pretty upset, huh?" said Peter. Tom yelped in surprise as he turned around to find Peter behind him.

"Were you watching the whole time?" Tom asked.

Peter shrugged. "I got the gist of it," he said. "Enough about that, though. Listen, do you want to head to the National Park? We can train our Pokémon there, if you want."

"Yeah, sure," said Tom.

"Alright then!" said Peter. "Come on, I'll lead the way!"

* * *

The sun had just barely set and the sky was a reddish-purple as Tom and Peter left the Embs' house and started to walk through Goldenrod City, its lit-up skyscrapers piercing the skyline. They had barely set foot outside, however, when someone else came running out to join them. "Wait wait wait!" cried Opal. "Where are you guys going? Why didn't you tell me you were going out?"

"We didn't invite you," Peter said plainly.

"What? Why not! I wanna come with you guys!"

"Too bad," said Peter, who continued walking forwards. "The big kids are going for a walk now." Tom shifted his eyes from Peter to Opal and back several times before following Peter.

"What do you mean, 'big kids'? I'm barely more than a year and a half younger than you!" Opal shouted.

"Just go home," said Peter. Opal stuck her tongue out at him and then ran back inside.

"What'd you do that for?" asked Tom.

"Do what for?"

"Not let Opal come with us. I would have been fine with it."

"I was planning on catching up with you," said Peter. "She would have just been a distraction. Besides, she's so hyper and talks so fast and has such a short attention span… it's really annoying."

"I'm not sure you're in any position to say that," Tom mumbled.

Peter either didn't hear him or didn't get the implication. "Anyways, you have a lot to explain," Peter said. "Like, how you know my neighbor April, or that Samus guy. Who is he, anyways? Apparently he's all famous and stuff, and you told me he's a bounty hunter, but besides that I really don't have a clue."

"Well, for one thing," Tom started, "'he' is a…."

"And why is his voice so high-pitched and feminine?" Peter interrupted. "You'd think his balls haven't dropped or something."

"Samus doesn't _have_ balls, because…."

"Oh man, poor guy," Peter interrupted again. "Did he lose them in a fight or something? Or…."

"A girl!" Tom said impatiently. "Samus is a girl! A woman!"

Peter was silent for a moment. "Now Tom," he said when he spoke again, "just because a guy gets castrated doesn't mean…."

"No castration!" Tom said, frustrated. "Samus is a her! A she!"

Peter again took a moment to think. "So you mean 'she' is one of those guys who…."

"No!" Tom yelled without letting Peter finish. "She's female and _only_ female!"

"Really?" Peter said. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"Why not?"

"It could be a cover-up," said Peter. "The whole 'female' thing, I mean. Maybe it's to make his enemies underestimate him or something. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it."

"Just forget about it," Tom sighed, giving up.

"Anyways," said Peter, "you haven't explained how you know Samus or April, or what you were talking about when you said that thing about fighting Space Pirates at Mt. Moon."

"That's true, I haven't," said Tom as the two of them walked through Route 35. "It's a long story. You see…."

Tom continued telling the tale of his experiences the night after he got his first badge; meanwhile, they got to the building separating Route 35 from the National Park, checked into the park there, and went back outside to get to the park itself. They then found a bench to sit on and released their Pokémon to roam freely or find a place to rest. Peter listened attentively the entire time, audibly reacting to Tom's words at several points. When Tom finished recounting his adventures at Mt. Moon, he continued telling of his journey up to the moment when he had found Peter near Cerulean City.

"Wow," Peter said when Tom was finally done talking, "You've been through a hell of a lot without me. All that I've done is the boring stuff I've already mentioned, like catching that Mankey." (The white, pig-snouted Pokémon was swinging around in a nearby tree as they spoke.)

It was now night in full; the park was lit up by both the moonlight from above and the streetlamps around the park's rim. Buddy had perched on one of these streetlamps, while Pippa perched on a tree branch as close to her trainer as she could find. Geodude and Albert were playing some kind of game where Geodude would try to grab Albert before he Teleported away. Geodude wasn't succeeding. Ralph, on the other hand, was content just resting on the ground, as was Grotle, the evolved form of Turtwig. Charlie was not content with all the resting, and tried to get Ralph and Grotle to play with him (Peter's new Eevee, to avoid the commotion, was lying under the bench). When he failed, he instead joined Albert and Geodude in their game.

Tom and Peter looked up at the sky to see the stars and the almost-full moon, as did Manny, who was sitting on Tom's other side. "Why do you always keep that Machop so close, anyways?" asked Peter.

Tom looked nervously at Manny. _Not yet_, Manny mouthed while slowly shaking his head.

"I, um… he was there at Mt. Moon, remember?" Tom said as he looked back up to the sky. Tom had mentioned his capture of Manny, but had skipped over the fact that he could talk. "I guess you could say that we bonded over that. We both fought Space Pirates there, after all. I don't know. I've just taken a liking to him." Overall, it was a pretty lame explanation.

"I understand," said Peter, though regardless of what he thought he didn't actually understand. He then changed the subject. "So what do you think you'll evolve your Eevee into?"

"Good question," said Tom. "I don't really know. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm going to _use_ her. I'd have to replace someone else in my party, and I don't really want to get rid of any of them. Maybe I could part with Buddy. He's probably the least strong in my party, and Butterfree don't have much fighting potential anyways." Tom said the last part more softly; Buddy's outline could be seen resting atop a streetlamp nearby.

"Well, I'm thinking of getting a Water Stone to turn it into a Vaporeon," said Peter. "I'm going to need a water-type sooner or later." He paused for a second. "There's something I don't get," he said. "Why would you jump on a Space Pirate yourself when you know that you're useless against it, and that your Pokémon aren't?"

"It's a very good question," said Tom. "I'm not sure myself. I just saw the scene unfold, and… I don't know. I felt my body acting before my brain had time to chime in. I don't know if that makes any sense."

"I think it does," said Peter. "I think the same thing happened to me when I heard about the invasion. I knew how dangerous it was to go there, I knew that better trainers than me were going to put up a fight, and I knew that I wouldn't make enough of a difference there to make it really worth putting my life on the line… but I went anyways, because I wasn't really thinking about all of that when I ran off. I just ran. It was instinct alone – all I could think about was protecting my family. You were probably following the same instinct."

"Could be," said Tom.

Peter didn't respond; at that moment, something from above landed on the ground not too far in front of them. It was a small black bird with a somewhat disheveled look, a crooked yellow beak, a wide, shaggy tail, and a feathery crest resembling a hat atop its head. "It's a Murkrow," Peter whispered. The bird had yet to notice the boys.

"You know, they say that it's bad luck to see one of these at night," Tom noted.

"Cool," said Peter, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a Pokéball. "I call dibs."

"That's fair," said Tom. "I was the one who got to catch the last Pokémon we both came across. The Pikachu, I mean."

The Murkrow still hadn't noticed them; it was busy looking up at a tree, presumably for something to prey on. "I bet I can catch it in surprise," Peter whispered. He noiselessly stood up from the bench and then threw the Pokéball (as it happens, a blue and white Great Ball) at the Murkrow. The Great Ball made contact, opened, and beamed the Murkrow inside before closing again. It shook… and shook… and shook… and clicked. "Got it!" Peter shouted triumphantly.

"Wow, you didn't even weaken it," said Tom.

"That's just how good a trainer I am!" Peter gloated as he moved to pick up his newly inhabited Pokéball.

"Yes, the master of random chance you are…." I said sarcastically.

Ignoring me, Peter looked over the Pokéball in his hand. "That's two Pokémon I've gotten today," he said. He looked over at Tom. "You know I'm going to have to test them out on you, right?"

"You mean you want to battle?"

"Of course," Peter replied. He opened his Pokéball to release his Murkrow. "Alright, let's get our Pokémon together and – whoa!"

Peter narrowly dodged his Murkrow's oncoming Peck. The Murkrow landed between Tom and Manny on the bench, both of whom immediately stood up and jumped backwards. The Murkrow cawed angrily and then took off towards Peter; Manny ran after it, but wasn't fast enough….

Just before the Murkrow reached Peter, Albert appeared right in front of him via Teleport and bore the Murkrow's attack. The bird again cawed angrily. "Stop it, Murkrow!" Peter ordered. "Stay still! Calm down!"

The Murkrow looked at Peter and took to the air, moving around Albert before again speeding towards Peter. It was again blocked by Albert teleporting himself in the way. The bird was about to attempt the attack again when Peter beamed it back into its Pokéball.

"That was weird," said Peter. "Captured Pokémon aren't supposed to act like that."

"Yeah…" said Tom, "…but look!"

He was pointing to Albert, who had turned into white light. He then grew taller; his legs, arms, ears, tail, and nose grew longer; a lengthy moustache sprouted on his snout. The white glow faded to reveal a Kadabra where the Abra had just stood. His coloration remained the same, but his eyes were now fully opened. He also held a spoon in his right hand.

"It's about time," Tom said in a relieved tone. "His Abra form was _impossible_ to train."

"Well then, at least coming here wasn't a total waste of time," said Peter. "I really hope I can do something about that Murkrow, though. I wanted to battle you here to test it, but I guess that'll have to wait. Come on, it's getting late – let's go home."

* * *

Tom awoke the next morning to find another face looking down at his. "Wha…" he said, his eyes not yet fully open. Then, louder: "What the?" as he jumped up to a sitting position.

"Please be quieter or you'll wake up Peter," Opal pseudo-whispered. Peter was indeed sleeping in the bed on the other side of his room, while all of their Pokémon (except, of course, for Murkrow) slept in scattered locations throughout the room.

"What… how… where… what are you doing in here?" Tom stuttered, still waking up.

"Oh! I… uh… I'm sorry for… I mean…." It was Opal's turn to be incoherent. Her face was now blood red.

"…Yes?" Tom asked.

"I… ohmigosh I'm so sorry that was really creepy wasn't it! I shouldn't have snuck into your room like that I'm so sorry!" She hid her head in her hands. "You probably hate me now!"

"Um… it's okay," said Tom, sounding uncertain and a bit confused. "I don't hate you."

"You don't? Yay!" said Opal, taking her head out of her hands and immediately looking and sounding as cheery as ever. "Okay the thing is that I wanted to battle you but you keep going around with my brother all the time and he wouldn't let me if he was there because he's a jerk and now he's asleep so I thought I'd ask you now but I came in and you were asleep and I was afraid to wake you up because it'd be weird but then you woke up and…." She took a deep breath.

"Calm down!" said Tom. "I mean… do you think you could speak a bit slower?"

"You want me to speak slower?" asked Opal. "Sure. The point was that do you want to battle now?" Then: "Oh no I really was speaking way too fast wasn't I? It must've been really weird! You must hate…."

"_I don't hate you_," Tom assured her. "And if you want to battle… okay, sure. Just let me change and stuff first."

"Okay great!" said Opal, again switching immediately from upset to cheery. "Just don't wake Peter up okay?"

"Sure," said Tom. They stared at each other for a few seconds. "Um…."

"Oh right!" said Opal, turning red again. "I need to leave now. Right." She left the room.

* * *

It was just past dawn when Tom and Opal (and Manny) met in a large field behind the Embs' house (and the other houses of that neighborhood). The two trainers both grabbed a Pokéball from their pocket. They had agreed to a four-on-four battle. "Now?" asked Tom.

"Now," said Opal. "Go, Ditto!"

"Go, Charlie!"

Charlie appeared on Tom's side of the field, while a tiny white blob appeared on Opal's side.

"Charlie, use Ember!" Tom ordered.

"Transform!" shouted Opal.

Charlie spat small flames at the Ditto. Meanwhile, the tiny white blob was becoming larger, growing limbs, and becoming reddish-orange. By the time Charlie's Ember hit the Ditto, it was already a perfect imitation of Charlie himself.

"This might get confusing," muttered Manny.

"Okay, Charlie, use Dragon Rage!" Tom ordered.

Opal was looking at her Pokédex to see what moves her Ditto's new form knew. "Dragon Rage!" she said a split second after Tom's order.

Charlie opened his mouth to release a stream of what appeared to be dark-blue flames; a split second later, the Charmeleon Ditto did so as well.

"Keep going!" said Tom.

"Also keep going!" said Opal.

The attacks continued, both of them equal in strength. Charlie, however, had an edge: he had already attacked the Ditto with his Ember before the Dragon Rages began. After a short while, fake-Charlie's Dragon Rage simmered down until it disappeared; the transformed Ditto then fell over unconscious.

"Come back!" cried Opal as she withdrew her Ditto. She took out another Pokéball. "Go, Smeargle!"

A lanky white Pokémon with two arms and two legs appeared in the Ditto's place. Some parts of it were brown, including its floppy ears, and its peculiarly long tail had a green brush-like tip.

"Smokescreen!" said Tom.

"Use Rock Slide!" said Opal.

Tom raised his eyebrows a bit when he heard Opal's command. Charlie exhaled a cloud of smoke, which drifted towards the Smeargle. The Smeargle ran around the smoke, but Charlie kept a lock on his opponent as he continued exhaling. Finally, the Smeargle gave up on running; it held its tail and then shot a series of rocks out of its brush-like end. Charlie dodged most of the rocks, but a few of them hit him; haven already been weakened by his last opponent, this was all it took to bring him down. "Come back," Tom said as he withdrew his Charmeleon. "Your turn, Manny!"

Since Manny was, as usual, already outside of his Pokéball, he needed only to jump into the battlefield. "Careful," Tom whispered to his Machop. "It's normal-type, so you have a type advantage, but there's no telling what moves that thing's tail has Sketched."

"Smeargle, use Fire Blast!" said Opal.

"Dodge it and use Low Kick!" said Tom.

The Smeargle released an enormous five-part flame from its tail, one large enough to make Tom reflexively step back and to brighten up the already-bright morning scene; however, the Smeargle's vision was still obscured by the Smokescreen, so dodging its attack was not too difficult for Manny. Manny slid feet-first towards the Smeargle to ram his foot against its legs; the Smeargle fell down with a _thud_ and did not attempt to get back up. "Enough!" said Opal, who beamed her Smeargle back into its Pokéball. "Go, Wynaut!"

A short, light-blue Pokémon with two long floppy ears, two stubby legs, and a head larger than its body appeared. It wore a wide smile and a happy expression; behind it was a flat black tail with an eye-like mark near its tip. "Not good," Tom muttered, looking at my screen. "A psychic-type. And thanks to its Shadow Tag, there's no switching out..." Speaking louder now, he said, "Oh well, use Karate Chop!"

"Charm, then Counter!" Opal commanded.

Manny ran towards his opponent, but as he did, the Wynaut lowered its head, drooped its ears, and made a face so ridiculously adorable, only my lack of digestive system prevented me from puking. Manny hesitated, confused, before ultimately raising his arm and then delivering the blow.

"That was its move?" muttered Tom.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" I pointed out. "Manny's attack would have been more powerful otherwise."

Meanwhile, after taking the attack, the Wynaut inflated slightly and then flung itself at Manny, deflating again during the impact. The force was enough to knock Manny backwards a considerable distance. "Karate Chop again, Manny!" said Tom.

"Counter again when it's done!" said Opal.

The same scene played out again – but this time, after Manny was knocked backwards, he did not get back up. Tom withdrew him back into his Pokéball. After thinking for a second, he said, "Go, Buddy!" The Butterfree was beamed onto the battlefield. "Use Sleep Powder!" Tom said.

"Safeguard!" said Opal.

Buddy blew his green Sleep Powder towards the Wynaut, who covered itself in a shiny yet transparent shell; when the powder reached it, it simply slid off of the shell and had no effect.

Tom was visibly frustrated. "Okay, whatever, use Gust!" he said.

"Counter it!" said Opal.

Buddy vigorously flapped his wings to blow a powerful Gust at the Wynaut; the Wynaut took the attack, inflated, and flung itself at Buddy while deflating.

"For the love of… how much does it take to bring this thing down?" Tom griped. Then he ordered, "Use Gust again!"

"You know what to do – Counter again!"

But the Wynaut never got the chance to use Counter again. This time, Buddy's Gust took it down for good. "Come back," Opal said, and she withdrew her Wynaut as Tom quietly sighed with relief. "Go, Delibird!"

Out came a large red bird with a white chest, face, ears, and tail. Its fat, round tail resembled a filled bag. As both an ice-type and a flying-type, it had two advantages against Buddy: the flying-type advantage against bug-types and the ice-type advantage against flying-types. This is likely the reason why Tom withdrew Buddy upon seeing the Delibird. "You're up, Ralph!" he said as he released his Pikachu.

"Bombard it with Presents!" said Opal.

"Dodge it and use ThunderShock!" said Tom.

The Delibird reached into its tail and pulled out a… present. Boxed up, wrapped, and everything – it even had a bow. It threw the Present at Ralph, who narrowly dodged the explosion that ensued when it hit the ground – I could swear that he rolled his eyes as he avoided the neatly-packaged attack. The Delibird was preparing to throw another gift when Ralph took advantage of the opportunity to zap his foe. As soon as the ThunderShock was done, the Delibird fell over, fainted.

"Enough, Delibird!" said Opal as she and Tom both withdrew their Pokémon. The two trainers walked up to each other. "That was a good battle, huh?" said Opal. "Your Pokémon are pretty strong!"

"Thanks," said Tom. "You have some very… interesting Pokémon." That was one way to put it.

"You think so?" Opal asked eagerly. "Everyone else says they're all weird and gimmicky but I think they're interesting too! Not enough people use Pokémon with their own unique and special quirks. Hi guys!" The last part confused Tom until he saw who Opal was waving to – two figures from the cluster of houses were approaching the field. One was April Maywood; the other was a young boy vaguely resembling her, though he wore glasses.

"Were you guys watching that whole time?" asked Tom.

"Almost the whole time," said April. "We got there around the time your Machop was fighting her Smeargle. Anyways – Tom, this is my little brother, June. June, this is Tom."

Tom and June shook each other's hands and greeted each other. "Heh, I get it," said Tom. "April, May…."

"DON'T!" shouted April, making Tom recoil. "Don't you DARE finish that sentence!" Her expression was a horrifying combination of embarrassment and rage. "It's not my fault our parents did that to us!"

"O…okay," said Tom, taken aback. June stifled a chuckle at the whole scene. "Wait a moment – I've heard of you!" Tom said, looking at June. "You're… I mean, of course…you're June of the Elite Four! The youngest member!"

"The youngest _ever_ member," said June, adjusting his glasses. "Still am, at twelve years old. I came back here when I heard about the Space Pirate invasion, but I'm going to have to return to Indigo Plateau soon. Flattered you recognized me, by the way." He pointed to Opal. "I'm the reason her Smeargle knows Fire Blast. Not that it did him much good in this instance."

"Um guys I hate to break things up…" said Opal, "…but I really need to get my Pokémon healed now! And Tom probably does too."

"That's true," said Tom. "I should probably head over to a Pokémon Center."

"We could come with you," said April. "The Pokémon Center is in the middle of town – if you want, we could go shop and stuff while we're there."

"I'm up for it if you guys are," Tom confirmed.

"Checking out the Department Store _would_ be a nice way to see Goldenrod City off," June pondered. "It's one of the more prominent landmarks, after all."

"Cool," said April, "Let's get going then!"

"Wait!" Tom protested. "Maybe we should wake up Peter first so he can come with us?"

"I see _no reason _to," April said through gritted teeth.

"April's right," said Opal. "The less Peter the better."

"Well, it looks like there's a consensus," said June. "Off we go, then!"

"Okay!" said Opal as she sprinted away while June, April, and Tom began walking. Opal stopped in her tracks, noticed the distance between her and the other three, and then sprinted back to them. "Walking's okay too," she said. "Yay walking!"

* * *

After Tom and Opal had gotten their Pokémon healed, the four of them – along with Manny, Buddy, April's Pachirisu, and June's Houndoom, all of whom had been released from their Pokéballs – headed to the nearby Goldenrod Department Store, an enormous skyscraper that housed the largest store in Johto. As they were approaching the building, however, Tom got a call on, well, me. I performed my ringing duties as usual, not that anyone thanked me; Tom grabbed me and pressed a button to see Peter on the screen.

"Hey, Tom, what's going on?" Peter asked. "I woke up and you weren't there. I looked all over the place and still couldn't find you."

"It's not my fault!" Tom said hastily. "You see…."

April grabbed me right out of Tom's hands. "You see," she said, "nobody likes being around you, so we decided to go into town ourselves and leave you to your nice cozy bed."

"I was talking to _Tom_," Peter said.

Tom was looking over April's shoulder; he reached for me, but April turned around to avoid him. "Too bad!" she said to Peter. "You're talking to me now!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" said Peter. "I was going to show Tom the Game Corner, but…."

"You can just go there yourself, then," April interrupted. "We'll meet you there when we're done having fun without you there to ruin it." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Wow," said Peter, "what got stuck up your…" but April pressed the hang-up button before he finished.

"Alright, go April!" said Opal, who held up her hand for a high-five, which April obliged in with a smile.

"I did handle that pretty well, didn't I?" she said.

"Can you get Tom to use whatever brand of soap you use?" I asked April. "Your hands are way less gross than his." She looked at me funny and then tossed me back to Tom.

"Um… what was that?" asked Opal after they all began walking again.

"What was what?" asked Tom. "Oh, you mean my Pokédex, Dexter? Yeah, he talks."

"Artificial intelligence in a Pokédex?" said June. "Fascinating… I'm surprised I'd never heard of that innovation."

They walked into the large, spacious lobby of the Department Store. "It wasn't exactly supposed to happen," said Tom. "I was the first person to know, and that was after I already had it. I'd sort of rather have a normal one."

"Ha!" I said. "Yeah right. You've never turned me off and haven't even tried to figure out how to mute me yet. And yes, it is possible. But you'll never do it because despite your complaints, my intelligence is actually extremely useful to you, and you know it. Which isn't even to mention how lonely you know you'd feel without me." Nothing annoyed Tom more than being told a truth he didn't want to hear – not that he ever came up with a response.

"Sounds like you two have already become close friends," said April.

"Very funny," groaned Tom.

They had gone up the escalator to the second floor, where the bustling trainer's market awaited. The four trainers, accompanied by the four Pokémon, all shopped for Pokéballs, healing items, repels, and anything else they'd need in their travels for their training; around them, the store was teeming with other trainers doing the same. April also got a Fire Stone to evolve her Eevee into her brother's type of preference, perhaps out of respect for him.

"Don't you want something to make your own Eevee evolve?" April asked Tom when they were all looking at evolutionary stones.

"Actually," said Tom, "I've been thinking about that, and I've decided that I'm going to evolve it into an Umbreon. I'm pretty sure that doesn't require a stone."

"It doesn't," June confirmed. "Just make sure to keep most of its training at night."

Tom, April, and June all finished before Opal, who was fretting over various options; June decided to help her out while Tom and April found a bench to sit on and wait. Manny sat next to Tom on the bench as well.

Tom and April watched as Pachirisu approached Buddy, who was fluttering in place just above the ground. Pachirisu looked at Buddy from every angle, fascinated; Buddy just looked straight ahead as if nothing was happening. Pachirisu cautiously poked Buddy with her bushy blue tail, but Buddy did not seem to react. Frustrated, Pachirisu let out a low-pitched "Chuuuu…" and leapt onto April's lap. April chuckled and began to pet her Pokémon.

"Why do you have two Pokémon out?" asked April. "That seems like a lot to handle."

"Well, I always keep Manny out," said Tom. "He… doesn't like staying in his Pokéball. But I don't want that to mean that my other Pokémon stay in all the time. Especially this one… because I don't think we have that much time together left."

"Why not?" asked April.

"I already have six Pokémon," said Tom. "If I want an Umbreon, I'm going to have to give one of them up. And honestly, I can't keep Buddy forever if I want to be a great trainer. Butterfree aren't very strong to begin with, and now that Albert's evolved into a Kadabra, he can do a lot of the things I had needed Buddy for instead."

April only nodded. A brief pause in the conversation ensued. Tom ended it when he asked, "Um, April… why do you hate Peter so much?"

"_Why?_" said April, suddenly angry. "You've hung out with him… for how long?... and you have to ask that?"

"I've only known him for a little while," said Tom.

Just then, June and Opal reappeared, with June's Houndoom – a large, black, four-legged Pokémon with curved horns and a spiked tail – in tow. Opal's bag was significantly fuller than those of the other three. "I couldn't decide which type of Pokéballs to get so I just got some of each," said Opal.

"Shall we move on, then?" asked June.

They moved on, heading to the next floor. As they moved, Opal took a particular interest in seeing what Tom had purchased, even though he hadn't bought anything interesting. The third floor was under renovation, so they went up to the fourth, where a variety of Pokémon vitamins, nutrients, and food awaited. Tom got himself away from Opal when the shopping distracted her from bombarding him with questions, and he walked over to where April was doing her own shopping.

"So you were saying…" Tom prodded.

"I don't even want to _talk_ about it," hissed April. She must have been lying, though, because she then continued to talk about it as she shopped. "He's such a jerk! He's _constantly_ trying to get on my nerves… and that just happens to be the one thing he's good at. He doesn't waste any opportunity to make sure I'm miserable around him. The psychopath _enjoys_ being an asshole… he thinks it's _funny_. Then there's the fact that he's totally ego-driven and self-centered, doesn't give two craps about anyone who isn't him, and expects everyone else to feel the same. He's also completely dim-witted and ignorant. Oh, and do you have _any idea_ how immature he is?"

Tom looked out a nearby window, where a Chatot sat on the windowsill outside. "Penis!" said the Chatot. "Peeeeenis!"

"Um, yeah," said Tom, "I do have some idea of that last one."

They were interrupted by June and Opal showing up. This time, Opal took a particular interest in showing Tom everything she had purchased, even though she hadn't bought anything interesting. They weren't separated again until they had all begun shopping on the next floor up, the all-important T.M. Corner. Tom began shopping for the move-teaching devices alongside April in order to re-initiate the conversation.

"You know," Tom began, "when Peter heard about the Pirate invasion, the first thing he did was to start running as fast as he could to get to the train to Johto. He was so worried about his family that he was willing to put his life at risk to help fight the Pirates off. I don't think he's as terrible as you're making him out to be."

"Can we _please_ talk about something other than Peter?" April pleaded. She didn't even give Tom time to reply before ignoring her own request. "Of course he wanted to fight Space Pirates," she said. "He thinks of himself as this great, noble hero who can do no wrong, whatever he actually is. He was thinking of how cool people would think he was for fighting aliens, not about something as trivial to him as the lives of his family." The conversation paused briefly as they walked over to another aisle. "Look, you've known Peter for what, a few days? I've known him all my life. We've always been neighbors, and there are lots of stories I could tell you because of that. Like that time he stole my v-scholar, submitted a crappy paper instead of the one I had spent days on, and almost made me fail the class. Then he told me he'd had his Geodude bury it, and I spent several painful _hours_ digging before finding out he had lied. Or that time he cut off practically all of my hair before I noticed him behind me. Or when he took Pachirisu into the woods – full of dangerous wild Pokémon – and sent us on a wild goose chase to find her. She could have gotten _killed_ before we did." Tom cringed slightly. "And I'm barely even scratching the surface here," April continued. "Peter Embs is bad news. If you're smart, you'll stay away from him."

* * *

Whatever Tom's internal reaction to April's monologue was, they weren't about to cancel pre-existing plans, and that meant meeting up with Peter at the Goldenrod Game Corner after shopping. The first thing everyone saw upon entering was a huge, dimly lit room with rows upon rows of slot machines. Tom looked around at the machines to see if Peter sat at any of them, but without luck.

"He's probably in the back," said April. "Let's go."

They walked down one of the long rows of slot machines. When they reached the other side, tables with digital screens came into view. All were unoccupied except for one – the one where Peter sat alone, intently staring into the screen in front of him. Tom, April, Opal, June, and the four Pokémon they had kept out walked over to him.

"Um… we're here," said Tom. Peter had been so focused on his game that he hadn't noticed them until Tom spoke.

"Oh, hiya Tom!" he said. He looked at the other three. "Hi, guys." He looked back at his screen.

"You're not at any of the slot machines?" Tom inquired.

"Nah," said Peter, "you need an adult with you to do that if you're underage. All I can do now is play this dumb Voltorb Flip game." He touched the screen on the table. "It's kind of addicting, though."

The five of them got food there – both for themselves and for their Pokémon – and ate. They took all of their Pokémon out for lunch too – except, again, for Peter's Murkrow. Tom kept shifting his eyes uneasily between Peter and April. April barely looked straight in Peter's direction at all. When they were done, they all withdrew their Pokémon and went back outside.

"So now what?" asked Tom.

"Good question," said Peter. He didn't seem to be giving it much thought, though; he was concentrating on a Pokéball in his hands. "Listen," he said, "I'm going to see if Murkrow's doing any better now. Do you think you can get your Pokémon to protect me – or anyone else he might attack – in case he isn't?"

"Sure," said Tom. "Manny, get in front of Peter; Buddy, get behind him. Keep him protected." The Machop and Butterfree did as they were ordered.

"Go, Murkrow!" said Peter. A beam of light shot out from the Pokéball, quickly taking the form of a black bird. Murkrow didn't spare a moment before lunging at the group; a Karate Chop from Manny stopped it mid-flight. It made to attempt another attack, but Peter withdrew it just as quickly.

"I just don't get it," said a disappointed Peter. "It's captured in a Pokéball now. Captured Pokémon aren't supposed to act like this."

"It is not unheard of for a trainers' Pokémon to act disobediently," said June. "However, it normally occurs if they were obtained in a trade."

"That doesn't explain it, then," said Peter. "I caught this one myself."

"Interesting," said June. "That is quite curious. The very act of capturing it ought to have tamed and pacified it, yet it acts as if it never left the wild."

"Could it be a faulty Pokéball?" Tom asked.

"Sounds possible," said Peter. "But I want to hear an expert's opinion on this." He pulled out his Pokédex, which, despite being of an older and cruder model than me, still had an internal cell phone. He dialed a number; soon, a slightly balding, nerdy-looking man in wearing a lab coat and glasses was on the screen.

"Peter?" said the man. "Why, hello there. Erm, how can I be of service?"

"Hi, Professor Elm," said Peter. "Listen, I need help here. I caught a Murkrow in the park last night, but it doesn't listen to a thing I say. Not only that, but it attacks me every time I release it. That shouldn't happen, right? Pokéballs are supposed to make wild Pokémon tame and trainable. Is there something wrong with the Pokéball?"

Professor Elm did not look pleased to hear this. "I don't think there's anything wrong with your Pokéball," he said, "but rather, the Pokémon itself. You're not an isolated case, Peter: recently, lots of people have been complaining about vicious, aggressive, disobedient Pokémon that they've captured. Always dark-type Pokémon. I wish I knew what was wrong, but nobody does. It's a planet-wide phenomenon that we're still trying to figure out." He put his finger up to his chin in thought for a moment. "Tell you what," he said. "Some other scientists and I are over at the Ruins of Alph right now. If it's not too much trouble, you might want to come to the lab here within the next few hours to get your Murkrow checked out. It might even help us with the research for finding a cure."

"It's not too much trouble," said Peter. "I'll be there as soon as I can!"

"Good to hear," said Elm. "Don't feel shy about bringing your friends, either. Well, see you then." The call ended.

Peter looked around at everyone. "You heard what the man said," said Peter. "You guys want to come with me to the Ruins of Alph?"

"I'm in," said Tom. "Sounds like an interesting place, from what I've read."

"I wanna come too!" said Opal.

"As I already said, I don't get to come back here often enough," said June. "Expeditions like these are a rarity for me, so I might as well take advantage of the opportunity."

April sighed. "I guess I'll go too," she said, less enthusiastically than the others.

Tom looked at the map he had brought up on my screen. "It's not close…" he began.

"…But we'll go faster if we get bikes!" Peter finished. "There's a shop around here, and I wanted to buy one anyways – let's go!"

* * *

_Author's Note: Thank you to OranCorn for pointing out a mistake in this chapter – for some reason, I had written Mirror Coat when I meant Safeguard. This has now been fixed._


	10. The Ruins of Alph

Samus, free of her Power Suit, sat on the sandy shore of Route 34. The vast ocean spread out endlessly in front of her; behind her, in the distance, were the lights of Goldenrod City. Above her was the starry night sky, hidden partially by Clef, which was full except for a thin, dark sliver. The only sound present was that of the constant collisions between the waves and the shore.

Samus and Bill had indeed had a lot to talk about earlier that evening. So little made sense. The Pirates had come to Goldenrod City, most likely to communicate with someone – that bit was the one thing the two could agree on. The creatures' focus on the Radio Tower, one of Pocket's most advanced collections of communicative technology, betrayed their motive. But to communicate with whom? Their new leader? If so, that would only reintroduce the question of who, exactly, this "new leader" was. Then there were other, equally troubling mysteries. What were the Space Pirates planning? With their defeat at Goldenrod, was the plan still in effect? How was Ridley still alive – or, rather, how was he alive again? And where was the beast now? Then there was the Chozo – when and why had they come to this planet? When and why did they leave? The list went on and on.

Samus ran through her day in her mind while absentmindedly keeping her eyes on the horizon, where the sea met the sky. That morning, she had continued her search for Pirates in the mountains near Cerulean City by entering Cerulean Cave. She had, in fact, found Space Pirate footprints in there, prompting her to explore deeper. For this reason, when Bill contacted her with information of the Pirates' invasion of Goldenrod City, it took her a while to get back to Bill's cottage. Coincidentally, the girl she had met upon her crash-landing on Pocket was there with Bill; as both of them had families in Goldenrod, Samus took both of them with her in her gunship. By the time she had arrived at the city, the battle was already raging between the Space Pirates and a large group of Pokémon trainers. She and the various trainers – among them was the other child she'd met near Mt. Moon – killed all of the Space Pirates there. As she later told Bill, based on the number of Pirates she had seen leave Clef, those killed at Goldenrod should be the last of them, or at least close to it – except, of course, for Ridley.

It pained Samus that her nemesis was out there, somewhere on this planet, and she was not actively hunting him down. But Bill had informed her of other obligations. The next day, she was to go to some place called the Ruins of Alph, where Bill and several other scientists would be waiting. The fact that Samus had discovered Pocket's previous inhabitants to be the Chozo fascinated the planet's scientific community, and apparently the Ruins of Alph were a mysterious relic of this until-recently unidentified race. Samus had no idea what, exactly, she was wanted for at these ruins. She only hoped that the long list of unanswered questions might be reduced there.

Soon, however, that list had one brief addition. Samus had been so deep in thought she had barely noticed the cooling of the air around her; it was harder not to notice, though, once tiny white snowflakes began landing around her. Samus was greatly confused, as it had been warm just a minute earlier. The snow got harder; looking up, Samus noticed that, despite the precipitation, the sky was still mostly clear.

_CRASH._

A small metal object fell into the sand near Samus, who instinctively looked around for its source. She found it in the sky: a large bird was majestically flying away in the darkness. Was it Zapdos, the same bird as before? Samus tried to scan it, but it was already too distant. The snow and the cold disappeared as quickly as they had come. Samus walked over to the dropped object to see that it was a metal ring similar to the one she had found the previous night. This one, she soon realized, was the Ice Beam.

* * *

"It was almost certainly an Articuno," said Professor Oak. "That would easily explain the trail of unseasonal snow that followed it. Now, you say that you experienced something similar with a Zapdos, who dropped a Wave Beam upgrade?"

Samus and five scientists stood just outside of the caverns of the Ruins of Alph. The scientists were Bill, Oak, Elm, and two others: a bulky, bearded man named Professor Birch and a white-haired old man with a large moustache and sideburns named Professor Rowan. Birch and Rowan had come from the regions of Hoenn and Sinnoh, respectively.

"That's right," Samus said in answer to Oak's question. "It's the same system of weapons I found on Tallon IV. Whereas the Chozo beams I found on Zebes could be combined and added on to each other, these beams are separate and only one can be used at a time. I've found the Wave Beam and Ice Beam here, but on Tallon IV there was also a high-temperature Plasma Beam. I suspect this planet has one of those somewhere as well."

"I would think so too," said Bill. "Articuno and Zapdos are part of a trio of legendary bird Pokémon, and the third legendary Pokémon of that trio is Moltres, a fire-type. It would seem that the Chozo selected the legendary trio as guardians for Chozo weaponry of corresponding elemental types."

"But what's really interesting," said Elm, "is the fact that these two legendary birds dropped the Chozo weaponry right by you. You're not only the only one to receive such – if that truly is what they are – gifts, but also the first person to discover a Chozo statue anywhere on Pocket. It seems very unlikely that your Chozo armor – or your lifelong connection to the Chozo in general – isn't responsible for any of this."

"And that brings us to why we're here," said Birch. "With that suit of yours, you might be able to find stuff in this place that nobody's been able to find before."

"That's right," said Elm. "The Ruins of Alph… well, nobody quite understands them. They're full of puzzles and chambers; now we know – or at least suppose – these to be relics of ancient Chozo settlers. But the most famous mystery here is that of the Pokémon which inhabit the chambers: Unown. The Unown are psychic-type Pokémon whose appearance bears an uncanny resemblance to an ancient human alphabet. The Roman alphabet, to be specific. Humans first landed on Pocket some sixty years ago, and by then it'd been nearly a thousand years since we'd switched to the Standard alphabet; yet the resemblance is so strong it can't be denied. The Unown come in many shapes, all of which resemble either a letter of the Roman alphabet or punctuation in it. Even the revelation that these ruins are Chozo ruins doesn't bring us any closer to explaining this fact."

"You've piqued my interest," said Samus. "How about we check this place out now?"

"I like how you think," said Birch. "Less talk, more action. Come on now, enough chitter-chatter – let's get moving!"

* * *

"Are there other buildings in these ruins?" asked Samus, now wearing her Power Suit, as she and the scientists reached the bottom of the staircase leading to the main room of the chamber. The room was a large, cavernous maze of walls, which were lined with statues of Pokémon.

"Sort of," answered Oak. "Other entrances to other structures have been discovered – but we suspect that they are all connected in some hidden way, forming one large structure between them."

They walked through the ancient hall. It didn't take long for a Pokémon to find them; something flat resembling an eye with black sticks protruding from it levitated to the group. For a short while, it simply hovered around them. "An Unown!" Bill whispered excitedly.

The Unown had its eye focused on Samus, who instinctively pointed her Arm Cannon at it. It happened quickly: before Samus knew what was happening, she (and only she, not the scientists) was surrounded by a swarm of Unown flying rapidly in circles around her. She swung around her Arm Cannon, but just as soon as they had come, they were gone. No, not gone: they were in front of her now, collectively forming the shape of an arrow.

"It appears that they want you to follow them," said Rowan, though it didn't really need saying. The Unown flew forwards; Samus ran after them, followed by the five men. They ran through the halls, turning at a couple of points, until finally, the Unown stopped. The six people stopped as well. The Unown then stuck themselves on the stone wall, rearranging themselves to form a new shape: a circle within a larger circle, and a group of three Unown in a horizontal line above it.

"There's a word!" said Rowan. "But what does it say?"

Samus scanned the word to receive a translation of it. "It says 'ice'," she said. She held up her Arm Cannon, pointing it at the circles. "It looks like a target," she noted while switching to her Ice Beam. She shot a wad of ice at the center of the circles on the wall.

Samus had guessed correctly: as soon as the ice hit the center of the "target", the section of wall inside of the smallest circle of Unown retreated inwards, forming an indent. Then the entire wall in front of them began moving downwards with a force that made the ground tremble. The wall sank into the floor, gradually revealing a hidden room behind it. On the far side of this hidden room were two statues of winged Pokémon – a different one in each corner. Between them was a Chozo statue holding an orange ball. The scientists gasped; Samus stared onward in silence.

Slowly, somewhat numbly, Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at the orange shell and shot it with her Ice Beam, making it crumble and fall off. Inside of it was yet another familiar upgrade: a mechanical ball that held the Charge Beam, which allowed her to, well, charge her beam, storing up energy in it and then releasing it all at once. Samus walked over to the item, habitually inserting it into her Arm Cannon when she reached the statue. She then tested her newly recovered upgrade right there: a white ball of ice gathered around the tip of her Arm Cannon, which she released, blasting the wall in front of her. The scientists merely watched motionlessly at the room's entrance.

"Look!" said Bill; Samus turned around to look where he was pointing. The swarm of Unown, now in the hidden room, was gathering again. The Unown stuck themselves on the wall, rearranging themselves into a lengthy message in a language nobody there understood. "More words!" Bill said. "Samus, can you read them again?"

Samus scanned the message. When the suit's logbook had translated it, she read it aloud as she read it on her visor.

OUR DEPARTURE

The Blind Ones have gone too far. The beast they created has itself created three more Pokémon in similar likeness, and with strength rivaling its own. It created one from rock, one from ice, and one from steel. Truly, the fear this struck in the Blind Ones allowed them to see the error of their ways. They sealed away their creation in a temple in the North before it could spawn more underlings and potentially create an army of them. The three underlings it did create were carefully sealed away in separate locations, and are the only keys that can reawaken their creator. Now united in our opinion, we Chozo have chosen to leave this planet forever, never to disturb its progress again. The Pokémon here have great power and potential; they no longer need us. It is for their sakes that we depart. It is our hope that the next who come here will learn to walk peaceably alongside them. We leave behind our relics, should the Protector of legend have use for them. We also leave behind these messages, engraved in the minds of these Pokémon who know so much of the various arts of communication. Whether these words will ever be read, or understood should they be found, our greatest Seers do not know.

For a while, nobody said anything; their minds were too busy racing. Birch was the first to speak up, and only in a whisper. "The Regis…" he began.

"The what?" asked Samus.

"The Regis," Birch said more audibly. "The legendary golem Pokémon. A creator… rock, ice, and steel… that had to have been what they were talking about. That's the only part of the message I could make any sense of."

"It _was_ rather cryptic," said Rowan. "Perhaps if we had read other messages of this sort, the context would make it all clearer."

"Right," said Bill. "Maybe we should search the ruins for more rooms like these?"

"We should at least try," said Oak. "Let's not linger, though – there are other things we were planning on getting to today. Plus, if we aren't directed by more Unown, it's unlikely we'll find anything no matter how long we search. This place has been explored for decades, after all, and our discovery today was the first of its type."

"What do you mean by 'other things'?" Samus asked curiously.

"We'll get to that soon enough," said Oak. "Whenever we're done here, we'll head to the on-site laboratory and explain everything there."

* * *

The search did not go well. Though they passed by several more Unown, none of them took notice of Samus. As a result, the six of them could only walk through the maze-like labyrinth aimlessly until finally concluding that they would not find anything else there.

"Are there any other places where Unown have been found?" asked Samus – now back in her Zero Suit – as they walked towards the laboratory, having exited the chamber.

"Yeah", said Birch, "but not many. In this province of Pocket, there's one in the Sevii Islands, one in Sinnoh… I think that's it, besides here."

"That's right," said Bill. "We ought to give you those locations later, for future reference... in fact, I may even be able to upload a map of Pocket to your logbook!" Samus nodded her head in agreement.

They made to enter a surprisingly small, modest building; just then, however, Elm came to a stop. "I'm getting a call," he said. "You all keep going – I'll catch up later."

The other five did keep going. But what they entered, Samus thought, wasn't so much a lab as it was a medium-sized room with a few computers in it. Oak either could tell what she was thinking or he had predicted it. "Doesn't seem like much, right?" he said. "But don't worry – there's more here than it seems." He flipped one switch among a long line of switches on the wall. A loud humming sound ensued; looking around, Samus realized that a section of the floor was descending to transform into a staircase. When the transformation was complete, the humming noise stopped. "Come," said Oak, and he led Samus, Bill, Birch, and Rowan down the staircase.

The basement was a much larger laboratory, and much more compact with equipment and materials. Oak led them to a group of chairs, which they all began to sit in; just then, Elm came rushing down the stairs. "Who was it?" asked Bill.

"One of my trainers," said Elm. "He's coming over here sometime within the next few hours or so." He looked at Samus. "You might see some familiar faces, Samus," said Elm. "I had a peek at who this boy was with – among them were the boy and girl reported to have traveled through Mt. Moon with you. I didn't mention it, but I told the kid who called me that he could bring his friends." He walked over to where the rest were sitting and found a chair. His face then became more serious. "It's one of his Pokémon," he said. "Another dark-type. Same story as the rest. If only we knew what the cause was…." The other scientists seemed to understand. Elm turned to Samus, explaining himself for her sake. "A lot of dark-type Pokémon have been acting unusual lately," he said. "They've been vicious, aggressive, and generally untrainable. We're looking into it, but still nobody knows why this is, or how to cure it… or _if_ it can be cured. It is quite a troubling predicament."

"Dark-type…." Samus mumbled. She'd heard of the Pokémon type before, but now the term was triggering a chain of memories to replay in her head. Two worlds: one of light, one of dark. Aether and Dark Aether. A planet, Aether, splitting into two dimensions after colliding with a Seed from Phaaze. The dark inhabitants of Dark Aether: the Ing.

"Anyways," said Elm, bringing Samus back to the present, "we have other matters to discuss, right?"

"Correct," said Oak. "Samus, there's some… interesting things that we'd like to share with you. Specifically, some facts relating to Pokémon that nobody's ever managed to find an explanation for. We've stumbled upon one with you already: the Unown. The fact that they mimic an ancient alphabet is not a uniquely strange fact in the world of Pokémon. Bear with us as we go through this, for there is a reason we want you to know it all; we'll get to that part afterwards."

Oak nodded to Professor Elm, who got up from his chair and walked to somewhere outside of Samus's view. When he came back, he was holding something round and yellow. "This," he said, holding the object out to display it, "is a Pokémon egg. All Pokémon reproduce by laying eggs... well, at least the ones who are known to reproduce at all. But anyways, all Pokémon that we know to reproduce do so by laying eggs – _or so we think_. Because, you see, nobody, in all of Pocket's history, has ever witnessed a Pokémon laying an egg… at least, not on record. We've even set up cameras at Pokémon day care centers, where Pokémon breeding is commonplace. And yet… nothing. Nothing to even hint as to how the Pokémon eggs appear. But they're always there the next day, even when the recording equipment was watching all night."

"It's pretty weird, all right," said Professor Birch. "But if you think _that's_ weird, check _this_ out." He pulled a Pokéball out of his lab coat and opened it; a beam of light burst out onto the tile floor beside him. The white light then took the form of a blue-skinned, red-shelled Squirtle. "Squirtle," said Birch, "hop into that tank!" He was pointing to a large, open-topped glass tank lining the wall; it was surrounded by data-recording machines which connected to the tank in a tangled system of wires. The Squirtle jumped atop the edge of the tank with ease, subsequently sliding into it.

Birch walked over to a large machine next to the tank; it was displaying many numbers on several screens. Birch pointed to one particular screen, which was displaying the number 9.005. "As you can see," said Birch, "this Squirtle weighs about nine kilograms. Now, Squirtle: use Water Gun until I say stop!" The Squirtle obediently shot a stream of water out of its mouth. The stream continued for several seconds before Birch finally ordered "Stop!" and put an end to it. The tank now had a shallow pool of water in it, barely high enough to reach the Squirtle's knees. Birch pointed to the same screen again; it now read 20.016.

"Twenty kilos?" said Samus. "It… it spit up more than its own body weight in water. But… the water shouldn't have added mass at all; it came out of the Squirtle, whose mass was already part of the measurement."

"Exactly," said Birch. "Basic logic says it's physically impossible – unless, of course, Squirtle's getting his water from somewhere else. But where? We once thought the answer might be 'the air around him', but that's no good – studies showed no decrease in humidity during a water-type attack. And it's not like water-type attacks are the only example of this: rock-type moves, for instance, often involve making rocks appear out of nowhere. We know neither where this stuff is coming from nor how these Pokémon are making it appear." He withdrew his Squirtle. "Your turn, Bill."

"Neat-o," Bill said as Birch took a seat. Bill took a Pokéball out of his own lab coat. "You've probably seen a lot of these lately," he said. "Pokéballs, that is. Having invented the storage system used for them myself, they happen to be one of my specialties. They were found all over Pocket when the planet was first explored, and we've since learned to duplicate and even improve them. Now we know that it was probably the Chozo who invented them. Yet, still, there is much about them that we _don't_ know.

"Most notably, while the fact that the Pokéball transports them elsewhere is something we _do_ know, we have no idea _where_ they are sent to. It's very frustrating; finding this out seems like it should be so easy, yet for everything that's been tried, so little has become known. We know that the location a Pokéball transports its inhabitant to is dependent on the primary elemental type of the Pokémon being transported – that is, there's a different location for rock-types, fighting-types, etc. The Pokémon is transported to a small structure – a different one for each Pokémon – which they can exit whenever they wish to go outside. Again, outside where, we don't know. But we do know that this structure they're sent to can hold them in stasis when necessary, which can prevent certain wounds from worsening, re-orient them during battles, and keep them safe after taking enough damage to knock them out. The Pokémon also has a view from the Pokéball's perspective within this structure." He opened the Pokéball in his hands to release a beam of light, which quickly took the form of a round, blue, bipedal Pokémon with a white belly containing a black spiral pattern. A scan informed Samus that this was a Poliwhirl. "You can take it from here, Professor Rowan!" said Bill.

"Of course," said Rowan. He turned to Samus. "Miss Aran, have you ever witnessed a Pokémon evolution?"

"No," Samus replied. "I've heard about the process, but never seen it myself."

"As it happens," said Rowan, "the subject is my specialty. Watch carefully, now." He pulled a small blue stone out of his lab coat. He then walked over to the Poliwhirl that Bill had just released, held his arm out, and touched the stone to the Pokémon. Rowan let go of the stone, but it did not slide off of the Poliwhirl; instead, it stuck to the Pokémon for a moment, and then both the stone and the Pokémon glowed white. The Water Stone sank into the Poliwhirl, creating one merged entity of white light, which then began to change shape. Soon, the light had faded, revealing a Pokémon similar to that which had stood there only a few moments ago, but larger, and with longer limbs. The Poliwhirl had evolved into a Poliwrath.

"Some things to note," said Rowan. "Firstly, the stunning similarity between the transitional phases of evolution and of Pokéball use. In both instances, the Pokémon spends a brief period of time emitting a wide range of electromagnetic radiation, especially in the visual spectrum – in other words, they emit light. And in both cases, during that brief period of time, the Pokémon has no mass. That brings up another noteworthy point: during evolution, a Pokémon's mass disappears in a manner yet to be satisfactorily explained. The energy given off in this phase is not of a large enough quantity to suggest a full matter-to-energy conversion – in fact, this energy fluctuates wildly and unpredictably. Given the process used to transport Pokémon via Pokéballs, one might be inclined to ponder the possibility that a Pokémon is at least partially transported to an unknown location during evolution as well.

"I could continue listing the unexplained fascinations of Pokémon evolution, perhaps endlessly. I could detail the oddities of how some species of Pokémon evolve and some do not, or of the fact that a change in human ownership, of all things, is mandatory to trigger certain evolutions. But for now, I think enough has been said."

"I think you speak for all of us there," said Oak. "There's much more we could say, Samus, but I think you get the idea. There are some bizarre, interesting unanswered questions in the realm of Pokémon science. But by now, you're probably wondering: what's the point of us telling you all of this? Don't worry, however, because there is a point. We feel like we're now closer than ever to getting to the bottom of all of this – of all of the mysteries that have plagued scientists since mankind first arrived on Pocket. But we may need your help. The Governor is coming to see you later today; he'll explain the details. To summarize, we have a new mission for you relating to an important step towards solving Pocket's unsolved mysteries."

"Wait a moment!" said Samus. "Aren't you all forgetting something?" The lack of response increased her frustration. "Ridley!" she cried. "The Space Pirates! There's at least one more of them still out there, and he's almost certainly up to no good. How can you just send me off on some unrelated errand when there's a threat to the planet that I need to find and kill?"

Professor Oak sighed. "Samus," he said, "do you have any idea where Ridley is?"

"No," said Samus, "But…." Her sentence was left unfinished.

"Samus, you have as little to go on as we do," said Oak. "Less, in fact. Don't think the fact that one Pirate remains unaccounted for has not been addressed at higher levels. As we speak, actions are being taken to search for Ridley's whereabouts. But this Ridley, from what I hear, is quite cunning, and there's an entire planet to search. Everything possible will be done to ensure that the Space Pirates are completely wiped off of Pocket, but that leaves us with quite a bit of down time, which you might as well spend making yourself useful. Besides, I hear our governor has quite a bounty set aside for this particular mission. So – are you in?"

Now it was Samus's turn to sigh. "I'll look into it," she said.

* * *

The five bicyclists came to a sudden stop in the middle of Route 36.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked. "Why are we stopping?"

"There's something blocking the path," said April.

"Lemme see!" said Opal. She hopped off of her bicycle and ran straight ahead; the others did the same and followed her. Indeed, there was something standing in the middle of the thin dirt path between the clusters of trees. "It's just a tree," said Opal. "We can walk around it – let's…."

"Wait!" said June. "Don't go near it – it might attack you!"

"Don't be silly," said Opal. "Trees don't attack!"

"Maybe not," said June, "but this isn't a tree – it's a Pokémon. Specifically, it's a wild Sudowoodo. It may look plant-like, but it's actually a rock-type Pokémon."

"Neat," said April. "I call dibs!" She pulled out a Pokéball.

"Hey!" said Peter. "I saw it first, and I want it!"

"How should you know that you saw it first?" April snapped. "Besides, I called dibs!"

"Ooh, you called _dibs_," Peter said sarcastically. "There's no arguing with that then. Hey, I call dibs on all your other Pokémon! And your money, and… OW!"

"Shut it," said June, who had just thrown a decent-sized rock at Peter's head. "Now, you two are going to solve this in the only fair and reasonable way possible."

"Fine," Peter sighed, still rubbing his bruised head. He and April held out their arms towards each other, their fists closed. "Rock, paper, scissors!" they chanted. Peter used rock; April used paper. "Hah!" April taunted, pointing at a sulking Peter. She turned towards the Sudowoodo, who remained as motionless as any of the surrounding trees. "Okay! Let's do this, Bayleef!"

April opened her Pokéball to release the evolved form of the Chikorita Tom had seen earlier. Bayleef was larger than her pre-evolved form, with a longer neck covered with large leaves in place of a necklace; the largest leaf remained on top of her head. "Use Razor Leaf!" April ordered. The leaf atop Bayleef's head spun around to point towards the Sudowoodo, who merely wiggled a bit. The leaf opened up to release a flurry of tiny, sharp leaves at the Sudowoodo. The impact caused the Sudowoodo to fall down; it got back up only with difficulty. The one Razor Leaf alone had taken a lot out of the wild Sudowoodo, grass-type moves being strong against rock-type Pokémon; it was now ready for capture.

"Alright," said April, pulling out a Pokéball. "Time to catch – _what…_?"

A Pokéball landed on the Sudowoodo, opening up to beam the wild Pokémon inside before closing again and landing on the ground. It shook once and then stood still. April looked at her hand; the Pokéball she had taken out was still there.

"Yes!" Peter shouted, running over to retrieve his Pokéball. "It worked!"

"PETER!" April yelled in rage. "Son of a bitch… how _dare_ you!" Judging by the looks on everyone's faces – even Tom's – they were all in agreement with her. April was so furious she was shaking. She glanced at Bayleef. "Bayleef, Tackle the shit out of him!" she shouted. Bayleef charged towards Peter, who released his Mankey as fast as he could; Mankey blocked Bayleef's attack at the last moment.

Peter and April both began to shout simultaneous orders; both were cut off at the same time by June screaming "STOP!" Immediately following the demand, June's Houndoom lunged onto the battle scene, growling and snarling at Mankey and Bayleef until both backed away. June himself then walked over to the location of the skirmish. He looked at Peter. "Listen," June said sternly, "as soon as we get back to Goldenrod, you're putting that Pokéball in a trading machine and changing the owner of that Sudowoodo to April, to whom it belongs. Understand?"

Peter returned June's cold stare with an indifferent one. "Why do I have to follow your orders?" he asked. "You practically just got potty trained."

"Maybe you've forgotten who I am," said June, his tone ice-cold. "Remind him, Houndoom."

Houndoom took a step forward and then opened his mouth to bellow out a tremendous Roar. Following the Roar, both Bayleef and Mankey retreated into their Pokéballs without prompting from their trainers. Then, so quickly that Peter had no time to react, Houndoom pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with his paws. The canine Pokémon snarled and bore its teeth right above Peter's head, visibly instilling the boy with fear.

"I am June of the Elite Four," said June, "and you will do as I say… or else there's _nothing_ that can save you from the excruciating pain my Pokémon will make you feel." He paused for a moment. "You can get off now, Houndoom," he said. Houndoom slowly walked off of Peter, who stood up once he was completely freed. "Now apologize to April."

"What?" said Peter. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"It is now," said June.

"Fine," Peter sighed. He walked over to April; once in front of her, he got down on his knees and hung his head in fake-shame. He even began fake-sobbing. "I'm so… _soooo_ sorry for what I did," he said, far too overdramatically. "Will you ever find it in your heart to – _OW!_"

"No theatrics!" said June, who had just thrown another rock.

"Where the hell are you getting all these rocks from?" asked Peter.

"Just hurry up and apologize like a normal person," said June.

"Fine," Peter said as he stood up. April was still looking at him angrily. Peter seemed to be in the midst of some great internal struggle. "I'm… sorry I took your Pokémon," he said while staring at the ground. "I... won't… do it again." April merely pouted and turned her head sideways.

"Good enough," said June. "Now then, the Ruins of Alph are close enough to where we are to make walking the rest of the way advisable."

"Fine then," Peter moaned, walking over to his rested bike. "Let's go bring my stupid Murkrow to the stupid lab. Buncha killjoys…."

Opal's hands were covering her face. "Is it over yet?" she asked, taking a peek between her fingers. "Please let it be over – that was so embarrassing!" Everyone walked over to their bikes, which they switched to portable mode to transform them into little cubes and pack them away; afterwards, April re-released Bayleef, Peter re-released Mankey, and Tom released both Manny and Buddy. Opal continued ranting all throughout this time. "I swear he's not my brother!" she said. "He doesn't even look like me! He was probably switched with someone at birth, or maybe…." She rambled on, but that was basically the gist of it.

"Were you watching all of that?" Tom whispered to Manny when the latter appeared.

Manny nodded. "Weird stuff," he whispered back.

Opal changed subject mid-sentence. "I try not to even go inside the house at the same time as him or else people will know we're – how come you guys keep bringing out your Pokémon even when you aren't battling or training or anything?"

"Lots of trainers do it," said June. "It's become almost standard procedure for a trainer to keep at least one Pokémon outside of its Pokéball whenever possible. It helps foster the bond between trainer and Pokémon, which is crucial to succeeding in battles."

"Oh," said Opal. She slapped her forehead. "UGH!" she cried. "I can't believe I never thought of that! I suck so bad at training that I never even did something so simple and obvious and now my Pokémon don't care at all for me! I'll never be any good at this!"

"Yeah, you sure do suck," said Peter. "At least there's one thing we agree on."

"Don't worry so much," June said reassuringly, ignoring Peter. "You're new to this – you shouldn't expect to have that great a handle on things so quickly."

"Like, you're _really _bad," continued Peter, who seemed to be enjoying himself. "Worse than the worst. Beneath the bottom of the pile. It's like a new unit of horrendousness – one Opal equals ten million steaming sacks of…."

"LALALA I'M NOT LISTENING!" shouted Opal as she covered her ears. Tom quietly chuckled at the odd sibling interaction.

A few seconds later, Opal finally released her Smeargle to walk alongside her. Mere seconds after that, the travelers had reached the gate of the Ruins of Alph.

"Professor Elm should be nearby," said Peter. "Let's go!" He ran off, leaving the others to follow behind him.

Before long, they had reached a small building, where Peter came to a stop. "I guess this is the lab he was talking about," he said as everyone caught up with him. Peter pressed a small button next to the door to make the doorbell ring. After a few silent seconds of waiting, the door opened. Out came the lanky figure of Professor Elm, who greeted everyone with a "Hello, there!"

"Hiya," Peter replied as two others followed Elm out the door: Professor Oak and Samus Aran.

Samus waved to them, particularly to Tom and April. "Recognize me without my suit?" she asked.

"_Samus?_" Tom and April said simultaneously. Apparently they did. "What are you doing here?" April added.

"Just happened to be in the neighborhood," said Samus. "Soon I'll be going off on some mission for a while, so when I heard you were coming I figured I might as well see you off now."

"And I'm here to help Professor Elm make a decision about Peter's Murkrow," said Oak. "Though it _is_ nice to see you again, Tom, if only briefly. I'd ask what you've been up to, but as it was on T.V., I already saw!"

"Um, yeah," said Tom, his face slightly reddening. "Good to see you again."

"Ah, but anyways, we have business to attend to," said Oak.

"Oh, right!" said Elm. "Peter, your Murkrow?"

"Buh?" Peter said blankly, finally tearing his eyes away from the curvy blonde woman in the skin-tight suit.

"The reason you brought us all here, you idiot!" April growled.

"Oh, uh, right," said Peter. He reached into his pocket and took out a Pokéball. "What do you want me to do with it?" he asked. "Should I let it loose here to show you what happens?"

"Give it to me first," said Elm. Peter held out the Pokéball, which Elm then took into his hand. "Back up, everyone," he said, and they all obeyed, stepping a large distance from the house. Only Elm, Oak, and Samus stayed in the same spot. Elm nodded to Samus, who nodded back; in a moment, her Power Suit had materialized onto her. Hesitantly, Elm opened the Pokéball, beaming the disheveled black bird in front of him. The Murkrow barely took one glance at Samus before charging at her; Samus stepped aside to dodge its attack, causing it to caw angrily and charge towards her again. Samus stopped it with a shot of her Wave Beam, which temporarily paralyzed it. Elm had seen enough; he withdrew the Murkrow back into its Pokéball. Elm looked at Oak. "It really is the same set of symptoms, then?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," said Oak. "You know what this means."

Meanwhile, Opal's face had lit up the moment she saw Samus's Wave Beam. "Smeargle, Sketch that!" she ordered. Smeargle grabbed his tail and started swiping it around, a fluid green stream trailing its green, brush-like tip as it went. Soon the trailing substance had gathered to form something resembling the electrical impulse which had just come out of Samus's Arm Cannon, which was then absorbed by Smeargle's tail. "Yes!" Opal celebrated. "Now you can use that attack too!" Smeargle smiled and held up his fist.

Soon they had all re-gathered in front of the house-like building, Samus having again removed her armor. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do right now," Elm told Peter. "In fact, there's really no guarantee that we can ever make your Murkrow trainable… like I said, yours is not an isolated case. Lots of people have had these same problems with their dark-type Pokémon, and nothing yet has worked to fix it. However, if you give us your Murkrow now, we can study it to get us closer to finding the cause – and, by extension, the solution."

Peter sighed. "I guess there really isn't anything else I can do. Go ahead and take the Murkrow."

"Wait a moment," Tom said. "I was planning on evolving my Eevee into an Umbreon – does this mean that I shouldn't, or else it'll get all aggressive and untrainable?"

Oak put a finger to his chin. "Come to think of it," he said, "All of the cases we've gotten so far have been unevolved Pokémon. It's not impossible that the only aggressive ones are those which were born that way – it's not as if we've gotten any cases of a dark-type becoming like that only after evolving. And Umbreon's pre-evolved form being normal-type brings up a whole new set of circumstances… if you want my opinion, Tom, you should go ahead and evolve your Eevee as you had planned and then tell us the results afterwards. I do not think that your Umbreon will become like Peter's Murkrow, but I'm interested in testing that theory."

Tom nodded. "Thanks," he said, "I'll do that."

"Great," said Oak. "Well then, if there's nothing else to discuss, I think the time has come for us to part ways again. The Governor is coming here soon; much as I'm sure you'd be eager to see that, I'm afraid the matter involved is far too confidential. But thanks for stopping by – and for the research material!"

"Oh!" Tom exclaimed. "One more thing." He turned to Samus. "Thanks for saving our lives earlier," he said. "And for saving my Machop, too." Manny gave a slight bow.

"Think nothing of it," said Samus. "Just doing my job."

They all said their good-byes until, finally, Samus and the two professors walked back into the lab, while the five kids and six Pokémon walked away from it.

"So," Tom said to Peter once they had walked far enough, "_Now_ do you believe that Samus is female?"

"Well if it's a disguise, like I said it might be, then of course he'd _look_ female! I never doubted that part. I mean, that look would be enough to put any baddie's guard down!"

"Are you seriously implying that Samus Aran might be male?" said April. "So you're admitting to having spent that whole time gawking and drooling over a man, then?" For once, Peter didn't respond.

"Ick, hormones," said June. "However late I reach puberty, it won't be late enough."

"Riiiiggght," said Peter, "late puberty. _That's_ why you're not into girls…."

Before long they had withdrawn all of their Pokémon, unpacked their bikes, and began the ride back to Goldenrod City.


	11. Goldenrod City Again

Back at the Goldenrod Pokémon Center, three things happened at roughly the same time.

Firstly, everyone ate dinner. Tom, April, Peter, Opal, and June all released their Pokémon to allow them to do the same in the Pokémon pen area provided by the center.

Meanwhile, just before eating, Peter and April, accompanied by June, went down to the basement, where the trading machines were located. There, Peter was to forfeit ownership of the Sudowoodo to April, who would provide him with nothing in return.

At one point, while those three were in the basement and Opal was visiting the Pokémon pen, Tom stood near the PC, accompanied by Buddy and Manny. Tom looked at his Butterfree a bit mournfully. "This is it, Buddy," he said. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to switch you out of my party now." Buddy stared at him blankly. "I mean, I'll still, technically, be your trainer," Tom continued, "but I won't be carrying your Pokéball around or using you in battles anymore. It's not your fault; you were great, the best that I would ever have wanted you to be. But, well, having you just doesn't work with the rest of my team, and I need to change things up a little. I hope you understand. You'll be sent to Bill's, and he'll take great care of you, I'm sure. I'll even take you back every once in a while – you'll still be my Pokémon, just not, you know, full time." More blank stares from Buddy. "You always seem like you don't care," Tom said, softer this time, "but I know that you do, deep down inside. I figured out that much back when you helped me get my first badge. You just never show it. Well, anyways, the time I had you was short, but I won't be forgetting it anytime soon. So good-bye… for now." Tom finally withdrew Buddy into his Pokéball.

"He'll be just fine," Manny said reassuringly as Tom began to work the PC. "You'll always mean a lot to him, whatever happens."

"I hope you're right," Tom said as he began the process of replacing Buddy with his Eevee. "This just feels kind of weird, though. Like I'm throwing someone away just because they weren't useful enough to me."

"Oh, you're not throwing anyone away," said Manny, "not even close. Buddy will be in your PC box and in Bill's care whenever you need him; and even if you don't see him again, you've done wonders for his life in just a few days, and he'll always remember that. No, you're not anything like the people who really do treat their Pokémon like trash – I've seen some of those in action myself. There are people out there who don't give a lick about how their Pokémon feels as long as they win battles, who are more attached to their wallets than to their Pokémon. Then, as soon as they aren't as strong as their master wants, the Pokémon _really_ get thrown away – left out in the wild with nothing to help them, with no idea how to survive on their own… don't compare yourself to people like that, Tom. You're way better than them."

Tom looked deep in thought over this, and a bit grim, as he finally picked up the Pokéball containing the Eevee which Bill had given him from the PC. "Thanks," he said to Manny. "Maybe you're right. I hope so." He held out his Pokéball. "For this Eevee's sake." He opened the Pokéball to release a beam of light that quickly became his brown, furry, four-legged little Eevee. The Eevee glanced at Tom with a look of only the mildest interest on its face. "Um, hi there," said Tom. "I'm you're new trainer, Tom." The Eevee yawned and lay down.

"Eh, she'll get used to you," said Manny. He had to shut up then, though, as Opal was coming towards them.

"Aw, what a cute little Eevee!" Opal exclaimed. She got on the ground to put her face up to the Pokémon's, and then spoke to it in the most disgusting baby-talk I'd ever heard. "Awen't woo a cwute wittwe one?" The Eevee looked back at her with an expression indicating both boredom and slight annoyance. When Opal tried to pet it, to my great sadistic pleasure, it scratched her face.

"OUCH!" she shrieked, jumping up and grabbing her face. Chuckling could be heard nearby – Peter had just arrived, as well as April, who stared at Peter angrily as he laughed at his sister's pain, and June. "It's not funny!" said Opal. "That really hurt!" She looked at her hands. "Ugh, it's bleeding – I have to go!" She ran off. The Eevee yawned again and rested its head, as if it was unaware of the commotion it had caused, though it probably wasn't.

"Hey, that's the Eevee that Bill gave you, right?" Peter asked.

"Yeah," said Tom. "I just took her out of Bill's PC."

Peter looked at the Eevee. "You nickname all of your Pokémon, right? So have you given this one a name yet?"

Tom looked thoughtful. "Not yet," he said. "I want to evolve her into an Umbreon, so that means I want a name that begins with U-M… Dexter, can you find some for me?"

"You're fresh out of luck, kid," I informed him. "There aren't any names like that. I know you're disappointed, but you're going to have to act like a normal person and either call her 'Umbreon' or give her a less stupid nickname."

"I already have a pattern going, though," said Tom. "It'd all be pointless if I break it now." (It was already pointless to begin with, but I'd probably reiterated that fact enough by then.)

"Well, you don't have to use a name that already exists," said Peter. "You can make one up." He thought for a moment. "You know, 'Umbreon' sounds a lot like 'Umbrella'."

"Uh, too obvious," said Tom. "And that'd be sort of a weird thing to use as a name anyways. At least, without a reason."

"Well, you could name her 'Umanda'," said Peter.

"'Amanda' is spelled with an 'A'!" Tom replied.

"It doesn't have to if you don't want it to."

Tom thought about this. "I guess it's the best I can come up with," he sighed. "Go ahead and name her 'Umanda', Dexter." So I did, despite it somehow managing to be the stupidest nickname yet. (Seriously, misspelling a normal name doesn't make it more original, just much more obnoxious.)

"Okay, that's one crisis resolved!" said Peter. Opal then joined the rest of the group; she now had a band-aide on her face. "And that's another crisis resolved!" said Peter. "We're on a roll, here."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Opal.

"Your _face_," said Peter, but I don't know if he was being sarcastic or literal or what. "Anyways," he said, turning to Tom, "I was going to battle you after I caught that Murkrow until that whole mess happened… but I can still battle you without it! Come on, I want to see how good you've gotten!"

"If you want to battle now, then sure," said Tom. "But, um, where?"

"There are stadiums for that sort of thing at any Pokémon Center," said June. "You may want to use one of those provided here."

"Sounds like a plan!" said Peter. "Is three-on-three okay with you?"

"Sure it is," said Tom. He looked at Umanda. "You can sit back and watch to help learn the basics, okay?" Tom said. Umanda yawned in reply.

* * *

"Go, Albert!" shouted Tom.

"Go, Geodude!" shouted Peter.

Both Pokémon appeared near their respective trainer in the large ring, the floor of which resembled a large image of a Pokéball. "Use Confusion!" ordered Tom.

"Rock Throw!" said Peter.

For a second, Albert and Geodude simply stared at each other, as if in a standoff. Albert made the first move, focusing his mind to deliver the telepathic blow to his opponent; at this point, it became apparent that this was what Geodude had been waiting for: as soon as Albert began forming his attack, a stone appeared in Geodude's hand. Albert was too concentrated in his Confusion to dodge the oncoming Rock Throw, and as a result, both attacks hit their target.

"Now, use Disable!" said Tom.

"No biggie," said Peter; "use Magnitude!"

At the former command, Albert directed psionic waves at Geodude that, while undetectable to the humans in the room, would render her unable to use Rock Throw again for a short while. At the latter command, Geodude smashed her fist against the floor, creating a quake that caused Albert to temporarily lose his balance. "Keep using Confusion!" Tom ordered.

"Another Magnitude!" said Peter.

This time, Albert was cleverer: as soon as Geodude pounded the ground, he jumped up high into the air, landing behind his opponent and avoiding the worst of the quake. He then let loose his own attack, hitting Geodude with the Confusion just as she turned around to face him.

"Okay, Geodude, finish it off with Selfdestruct!" shouted Peter.

Tom had no time to give another command, not that any would have been of much use; the explosion followed immediately. The enormous blast that was Geodude's Selfdestruct threw Albert into a wall, which he collided with hard enough to make him faint; as you could probably guess from the attack's name, Geodude fainted as well.

Both trainers withdrew their Pokémon. "I guess that makes us even," said Peter. "Next up, Mankey!"

"Your turn, Manny!" said Tom; Manny jumped in front of Tom as the furry white Mankey appeared in front of Peter.

"Two fighting-types… this should be interesting," said Peter. "Mankey, Seismic Toss!"

"Low Kick!" shouted Tom.

Manny and Mankey ran towards each other. Once near each other, Mankey made to grab Manny by the arm, but before he could, Manny ducked as he slid on the floor to successfully execute his Low Kick.

"Quick, Karate Chop!" shouted Peter.

"Block it with your hand!" ordered Tom.

Mankey jumped up above Manny, who was on his back after his last attack. Mankey attempted to Karate Chop his opponent, but Manny grabbed ahold of Mankey's hand just before it made contact. Mankey tried to do the same with his other arm, with the same result. Manny now had a grasp on both of his opponent's hands. "Now – Seismic Toss!" Tom commanded. Manny jumped high into the air, dragging Mankey along with him; at the peak of his jump, Manny threw his opponent at the ground, which Mankey hit with a _thud_. "Karate Chop!" said Tom.

"ROLL!" cried Peter, and his Mankey obeyed, just barely missing Manny's Karate Chop from above. "Seismic Toss!" Peter instructed. Being right next to Manny, it was not too difficult for Mankey to get ahold of him; he then jumped high into the air and threw his opponent to the ground at the jump's peak, just as Manny had done earlier. Manny hopped to his feet and leaped back in time to dodge Mankey's aerial follow-up attack.

"Finish it off with Revenge!" said Tom.

Manny reared his fist and then delivered a devastating punch to Mankey's face; Mankey fell to the ground, unable to continue the fight.

"Come back," Peter said as he withdrew his Mankey. "Okay, last one – go, Grotle!" What was once Peter's Turtwig had since evolved into something significantly larger, though it was still a green, four-legged, shelled creature; a couple of bush-like plants rested atop its shell. When Grotle was out, Peter gave him his order: "Use Razor Leaf!"

"Low Kick!" said Tom.

The bushes on Grotle's back shot a flurry of tiny sharp leaves at Manny. Manny zigzagged over to Grotle, attempting to dodge as many leaves as possible but getting hit by a good number of them. Once Manny got within striking distance, Grotle attempted to slide out of the way, but Manny quickly adjusted his aim and made contact anyways. Grotle was in pain, but all of the damage Manny had taken up to this point was starting to catch up to him. "That's enough for now," said Tom, and he withdrew Manny back into his Pokéball. "Finish this, Charlie!"

Charlie was beamed into the battlefield near Tom. "Use Ember until it's over!" said Tom.

"Crap!" Peter exclaimed. "Oh well, just use Tackle!"

Grotle charged towards Charlie as the latter sprayed small flames at the former. Charlie managed to avoid his opponent's Tackle just long enough; before Grotle could make contact, he finally – so to speak – burned out.

"That's enough," said Peter as he withdrew his last Pokémon. He looked back to Tom. "Man, you were great!" he said. "You've gotten way better since last time we did that! So have I, obviously, but apparently not enough."

"Well, I'm not sure you were using your full potential there," said Tom. "I mean, for example, you might have done better if you'd switched out your Geodude to save it for later, so you could use it against Charlie, or Ralph if I'd brought him out instead. Thanks, though."

"Hmm…" Peter said thoughtfully. "I dunno, but still, the trouble your Charmeleon gave me just made me more sure that I need to get a Water Stone to use on my Eevee."

"Hey, what are you doing?" said Opal, who had been cheering Tom on throughout the battle, though he'd been so caught up in the focused mental state he reserves for Pokémon battles that I don't think he had really noticed. "You just beat Peter fair and square! You should be demanding money from him like all trainers do!"

"He's my friend, though," said Tom. "I wouldn't really expect that from him. And it's not like I need the money, anyways."

"But…."

"Wait a moment," Peter interrupted. "Didn't you mention having lost to Tom this morning? You gave him your money then, right?"

"Well of course not!" Opal said indignantly. "But it's different! You see…."

As Opal struggled to come up with increasingly convoluted excuses for this hypocrisy, Tom shifted over to where April stood. "You know, we still haven't battled like you said we would," he pointed out.

"I said I'd battle you when I'm ready for it," April replied. "I've watched you battle twice today, and I can tell that I'm not yet. I still have some more work to do – but I'll get back to you soon enough."

"Okay then, I guess," said Tom. "Anyways, it's getting late – I need to go heal my Pokémon now." He checked me for the time. "I should be able to get at least a little bit of training in before going back off to Peter's house for the night."

* * *

After departing the Pokémon Center, Tom spent the rest of the evening training on his own, by the light provided by the city and the moon, at Route 34. There, he discovered that his greatest problem at that moment was the need to get his new team adjusted and motivated. His less recent Pokémon were doing fine: Ralph, after a timid start, was finally giving his all, and Charlie, Pippa, and Manny were as eager to improve as ever. But Umanda in particular was giving Tom trouble. Though she did everything Tom demanded of her, she did so almost pointedly using as little effort as possible, all the while looking bored and uninterested; upon completing the task, she'd simply yawn and lie back down. Albert was another problem. He did actually participate and exert himself in the training, but he still made things difficult with his mischevious antics. He'd find it funny to, say, light up a stick with Charlie's tail and then place said stick under Pippa when her back was turned, or to replace the water in Ralph's bowl with salt water from the ocean when Ralph wasn't looking. It both disheartened the rest of the team and made them less connected as a group.

"I don't know what I can do," Tom said to Manny as they watched Ralph push a large boulder. "I can tell them what to do, but I can't tell them how to feel about it, and that's at least as important."

"You're right," said Manny. "How your Pokémon feel about their training, and about their trainer, is definitely important. And you can't really control it. But if you know what strings to pull, you can guide it in the right direction."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Tom.

"Well… let me show you," Manny replied. Nearby, Umanda was lazily lying around as usual; Manny walked over to her. When he had her attention, he began talking to her in Pokémon Speak, making cackling, croaking noises. As he croaked and cackled, Umanda began to show the first sign of emotion at all since being added to Tom's team. Specifically, anger, and she looked quite angry by the time Manny was done talking. At that point, she stood up and ran over to where Ralph had just finished pushing the boulder from one tree to another one Tom had specified. As Ralph watched, Umanda put her own head against the boulder and began shoving it forward. It had crossed the distance and reached the first tree in far less time than Ralph had taken to complete the task. Then, as if just to show off, she pushed the same boulder again back to where Ralph was watching. Umanda finished pushing the boulder, stuck her tongue out at Ralph (who looked very confused), ran back to where she had been resting, and then yawned and lay back down there.

"Um… what was that all about?" asked Tom.

"She always had a lot of potential, she just thought of herself as being above your training exercises," said Manny. "That was probably just an excuse to laze around, though. Anyways, I told her that Ralph and the other Pokémon thought she wasn't trying hard because she just wasn't very good. That we were laughing at her behind her back. But what really got her going was when I said that Ralph thought he was _better_ than her."

"Was that all true?" asked Tom.

"Who cares?" Manny replied. "It got her motivated, at least for a moment. Eventually she'll come to trust you and respect you enough to not need a reason to get motivated, but to ever get to that point you have to do whatever you can now."

Tom looked at his resting Eevee. "Looks like she's still going to need some work," he said. "I guess I wouldn't expect her to snap to action permanently just like that. But what about Albert? He's clever enough to find a way around any punishment I assign to him…." This was true: angered by his Kadabra's antics, Tom had tried to use him as target practice for the Pokémon who'd been the butt end of his petty jokes, but Albert had grabbed on to Tom to use his trainer as a human shield. Any other punishment Tom could think up would likely meet the same fate of having some loophole exploited; Kadabra are not idiots. "How am I supposed to get him on the right track?" Tom asked, looking back at Manny. "You knew how to deal with Umanda – can you think of something else to tell Albert?"

Manny shrugged. "Hey, you're the trainer," he said. "You're going to have to figure that kind of stuff out. I'll just help out sometimes when I can."

Tom expressed disappointment at this. "You seemed to know right away what made Umanda tick, though. You have an insight into other Pokémon that I don't… you'd probably be better at making them have the right attitude about training and stuff."

"Tom, I'm going to have to repeat myself here," said Manny. "I may have the body and traits of a Pokémon, but up here…" (he pointed to his head) "…I'm basically all human. Sure, I spent a little while living among Pokémon and can speak their language, but beyond that I can't tell any more about how any individual Pokémon thinks than you can. Look, I'm already sure that you're a great trainer, and great trainers understand their Pokémon – how they feel, I mean, and what can be done to make them feel differently. That thing I just did with Umanda… if you tried hard enough, you could probably have done something like that yourself. And you're the trainer – _our_ trainer – so we're going to be expecting that kind of thing from you. We need to know who's in charge here, and you need to learn how to interact with your Pokémon as a trainer. Because I know you can do it really well, once you get the hang of it… better than I could, that's for sure."

Tom nodded. "Yeah, I think I get it now," he said. "Thanks for that."

"Any time," said Manny.

"This is certainly odd, now, isn't it?" I commented. "A Pokémon is training his own trainer how to train Pokémon."

"Don't get used to it," said Manny. "From here on out, it's all Tom." Tom merely ignored me.

The rest of that night's training session went fairly well. No more breakthroughs were made, but Tom did manage to defeat several wild Pokémon and even a couple of trainers before finally packing it up and heading back to Peter's house for the night.

* * *

The plan for the next morning was simple enough: after breakfast, Tom and Peter were to head out to Goldenrod Gym and spend the rest of the morning there training. But complications arose.

Tom and Peter, accompanied by Manny, Umanda, and Geodude, reached the gym as planned, only to find a crowd of other people gathered outside of it. Many of these were simply onlookers, and a constant flow of these were arriving at and departing from the scene. But the real point of interest was the organized group directly surrounding the gym. Most of them were holding signs with pitifully thoughtless slogans such as _Pokémon Training = Pokémon Slavery_ and _Don't be Evil, Free your Weavile_. The door to the gym was completely hidden behind a large, colorful banner that said:

_People for the Protection of Pokémon_

_(P.P.P.)_

_Saving Pokémon from the horrors of oppression_

"Oh, great," Peter muttered. "Like the Pirates weren't bad enough; now we're getting invaded by _these_ nutcases."

"Aw man, how am I supposed to get my third badge now?" asked Tom.

"They'll probably be gone soon enough," said Peter. "Back into whatever hole they crawled out of."

A young woman with curly red hair had, up to that point, been speaking through a megaphone about blocking access to the gym because it was a symbol of oppression and such and such. Then, however, she noticed Tom and Peter standing not far in front of her, as well as the three Pokémon with them. Peter apparently noticed her staring in his general direction. "Hey, bitch," he shouted, "let us through! We're trying to earn a badge here!"

"Watch your language, young man!" the woman shouted back. She walked closer to him (Tom, red in the face, tried to remain unnoticed). "Disgusting – they're teaching _kids_ to engage in this vicious practice nowadays! Young man, do you have any idea how your Geodude feels?"

"Hmmm…" Peter began, "…I'd say she feels really hard. And smooth and round at the head. Not that you'd know what anything like _that_ feels like." (It was a pretty weak analogy, but I guess he had to come up with _something_ phallic, being him.)

She shot him a stone-cold glance before looking back down at Geodude, who she then kneeled down to get closer to. "Poor little thing," the woman said, "being forced into violence at your master's will. You know, kid, it's not too late; you can still redeem yourself if you just free your… huh?" Geodude was pointing at the woman's megaphone. "What is it?" the woman asked; Geodude continued pointing her finger at the conical device. "You want to hold this?" The woman held out the megaphone, which Geodude then grabbed from her. "Oh, do you have something to say?" The woman watched attentively as Geodude inspected the megaphone, holding it at various angles… and then vigorously smashing it against the ground, leaving it shattered into bits.

"_What the heck?_" the appalled woman exclaimed. Geodude was cackling in laughter; Manny and Peter were laughing as well, and Albert found it hilarious. Tom simply grimaced as he continued hiding himself away in humiliation.

The woman jumped to her feet, furious. "YOU, sir," she snapped at Peter, "have clearly been abusing and mistreating your Pokémon, and now their personality and behavior have been warped and twisted for the worst thanks to your ignorant notion of how to treat fellow creatures!"

"My _what?_" Peter snapped back. "Oh, you little…."

"Um, Peter," Tom chimed in nervously, "I think we should just go. We aren't going to get anywhere here. It isn't worth our time."

Peter looked at the P.P.P. woman, then at Tom, and then continued shifting his eyes between them. Finally, he turned to Tom. "Fine," he sighed. "Let's get going then." He gave the woman a one-fingered expression of his opinion of her before he and Tom set off.

* * *

Tom and Peter lay on their backs in the field in front of the Embs' home; their Pokémon were either roaming around the field or resting in it as well. The two boys didn't seem entirely sure of what to do next, nor did they act like they were trying very hard to make this decision: they'd spent the last half-hour or so laying in the grass and talking about whatever came to their minds. I occasionally contributed to the conversation by telling them how dumb something they said was, but I don't think it really fazed them much.

"What's up?" asked April, whose voice Tom and Peter heard before she appeared standing above them.

Peter shifted forward until his head was directly between April's legs. "Well, from _this_ angle…."

"Shut UP!" April snapped as she backed away, her face red.

"We couldn't get into the gym," Tom explained. "We were going to go there to train, but it was being blocked by a bunch of P.P.P. people."

"No way!" said April. "Ugh, I can't believe those… well, whatever. You don't need the gym yet, right? You could probably even just train right here."

"Yeah, maybe," said Peter. He sat up and looked around the field. "I guess there's enough room here for training." He lay back down. "Bah, that would mean getting up and doing something."

"Uh, we're going to have to do it eventually," Tom needlessly pointed out.

"No rush, right?" said April. "Besides, it's almost late enough to have lunch now. The weather's nice – we could have it out here!"

"A picnic?" said Peter. "Might be nice. Just don't tell…."

"Hey what's going on?" Judging by their surprise, neither Tom nor Peter had seen or heard Opal coming towards them. She looked down at Peter. "I bet you were about to say something mean about me, weren't you?"

"…my sister."

* * *

The picnic was no small ordeal, as food had to be prepared not only for four humans, but also for their eighteen Pokémon. By the time it was fully underway, the field was teeming with activity. The four trainers sat and talked, accompanied by Pippa and Bayleef, who both insisted on staying at their master's side. Meanwhile, Albert and Geodude exchanged jokes; Charlie and Flareon (the newly evolved form of April's Eevee) played some variation of tag; Manny looked on with a slightly sad expression as Grotle and Smeargle played and talked near him. Ralph disappeared to the edge of the field for five whole minutes, where he held a flower he had picked in his hand and kept shifting his eyes between it and the activity on the field; finally, he ran over to Pachirisu, put the flower down in front of her, and then tried to run back away in embarrassment before Pachirisu stopped him with a demobilizing hug, causing April and Opal to simultaneously make an irritating high-pitched "Awwwww!" noise.

Without any real planned switch, eventually they had all transitioned from picnicking to Pokémon training. Tom had mostly only trained alone up to this point, and training in a group proved to be a very different endeavor; each of them – as well as their Pokémon – learned from each other's mistakes, picked up on each other's strengths, and generally had a lot more to work with than one lone trainer and his Pokémon would have. With four trainers each making decisions, it was also a lot less organized and more chaotic. As the day went on, Umanda and Albert seemed to be less of a problem than before, if only a little; meanwhile, Opal spent considerably less time actually training than everyone else, instead watching the other three for insights and then trying to apply this knowledge from time to time with her own team.

The disorganized day was scattered with appropriately random events. April went home and came back again a couple of times, bringing food back with her the latter time; Tom, Peter, and Opal were given dinner by Peter and Opal's parents, who dropped by for a visit at one point. As the sky began turning orange and the four kids finished eating, June also came by for a visit – to bid them farewell before leaving the city.

"I'm going back to Indigo Plateau now," said June. "I suspect one or more of you will be there to see me yourself sometime in the future… for a more work-related visit. But for now I bid you all farewell." He waved at each person as he addressed them. "Take care of yourself, sis. You too, Opal. And Tom – it was nice meeting you. Peter… just don't be too much of a jerk, especially if I'm going to have to hear of it later." He gave them all one last wave. "See you later, then," he said before finally walking off.

"Now what?" asked Peter when June was gone. "Should we just keep on training like we have been? Or what?"

"Actually," said Tom, "I think I'd rather train on my own for the rest of the evening. At Route 34, like last night."

"If you say so," said Peter. "Go ahead; I'll probably be home by the time you get back, so I'll see you there."

* * *

"Manny… I've been thinking…."

Tom had been at Route 34 for a few hours, and the sun had now completely set. The Pokémon were all taking a break (not that Umanda needed prompting), and Tom sat next to Manny, their backs against a large tree.

"The P.P.P.," Tom continued, "well, don't get me wrong, they're pretty crazy. Nobody takes them seriously anymore – they've sort of become a joke – and they know it. Still, I can't help but feel like, at some level, aren't they kind of… right?"

Manny looked intrigued and possibly worried. "What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it," said Tom. "I mean, us trainers attack wild animals until they're too weak to escape, then we capture and keep them in a little Pokéball, give ourselves total power over them, and force them to fight each other until they're knocked unconscious, usually just for our own entertainment. Doesn't that seem sort of… cruel?"

A half-minute silence ensued. Finally, Manny spoke up. "You know, Tom," he said, "captured Pokémon aren't the only ones who battle each other. Pokémon battles happen in the wild too. But in the wild, the loser isn't just taken to the nearest Pokémon Center to get healed. No, wild Pokémon battles end when the loser dies, or is left to die slowly and painfully, or is killed and eaten… in that order, if they're lucky." He hopped to his feet and walked in front of Tom so as to face him; he met Tom's gaze with a fierce, serious expression. "Listen," Manny continued, "I need you to really get what I'm saying here. Wild Pokémon live in constant fear – fear of predators and death; fear of not finding the food and water and shelter needed to live another day. When a wild Pokémon is captured by a human trainer, it's given a chance to escape from that fear and live in safety. But that's not all it's given. With the guidance of a trainer seeking improvement, the Pokémon is given a goal, something to work at, a reason to live. Its life is given meaning beyond searching for food and trying to stay alive. And, if the trainer is good enough, the strong bond between trainer and Pokémon gives its life even more meaning. I'd know, Tom – don't forget that _I _was a wild Pokémon not long ago; would I have made the free choice to get captured if it was so horrible a thing to do? That crazy group at the gym isn't just wrong, it's completely and totally wrong. Capturing Pokémon doesn't enslave them, it _saves_ them. Am I getting through to you here? Because I really hope so."

"Don't worry," said Tom. He, too, got to his feet; his body felt relaxed and relieved, especially compared to how it had been a minute before. "I understand what you're saying. I had already felt like those things P.P.P. said must be wrong… I just got a little worried when I thought about it and couldn't figure out why."

"Well, there wasn't any need to worry. If I'm ever feeling oppressed or something I'll just go ahead and say it."

Tom chuckled. "Being able to talk has its benefits, huh? For both of us." He looked at Albert, who was standing up and telekinetically bending his spoon in the distance. "You know, Albert hasn't been causing that much trouble lately. I think he was using it as an outlet – he wasn't comfortable being with my team yet, and whenever he got frustrated with his training he'd take it out on another Pokémon. I just need to be there to make sure he feels more confident for a while." Tom looked back at Manny. "I'm going to need to train you the hardest, though. The gym leader in this town uses normal-type Pokémon, and your fighting-type moves will be perfect for countering that. You've all gotten so strong already… we may even be able to face her sometime tomorrow."

"You think so, huh?" said Manny. He assumed a fighting stance. "Sounds fine with me. Now whenever you're ready – let's get back to work!"

* * *

Tom awoke the next morning to the _pitter-patter_ of rain against the window. "Ugh," he said. "Rain."

"Zat so?" Peter managed to say as he awoke. He tilted his head up to see the window and then put his head back down on his pillow, closing his eyes. "Oh well. Sleeping in is fine."

About a minute passed before Tom finally got out of bed and stood up. "Well, I'm going to go out to train anyways," said Tom.

"What?" said a re-awakening Peter. "In this weather? You don't hafta now… it'll prolly blow over soon… you can just sleep if ya want."

"No," said Tom, "I want to keep training. I need to, if I ever want to beat Jude… I don't know where he went off to, but no doubt he's out training now himself. Besides, exposing my Pokémon to a new condition to train in, like heavy rain, will help them learn how to adapt."

"Suit yourself," said Peter. "I'm still staying here to sleep. I guess I'll meet back with you at lunch."

* * *

During the first break Tom gave his Pokémon that morning, Manny came under Tom's umbrella to talk to him.

"I've had a lot to say lately, haven't I?" said Manny.

Tom thought about it for a second. "I guess you have," he replied.

"Well, I've come to realize something," said Manny. "A lot of the time I _want_ to say something, but I can't because you're around other people. Now I've been getting all that blabber out whenever you're alone, but I'd rather not have to hold it all in in the first place; you get what I'm saying?"

"Um… kind of… where are you going with this, exactly?"

"Okay, here's the deal. I don't want too many people making a scene of my… unique condition, but if you're around someone a lot, and you think you can trust them enough to keep a secret, I think it's best if we let them in on it. Like that Peter kid, for example. We share a room with him every night; I think it's about time I let myself talk in his presence. If you ask me, I think we should tell him about it tonight, if we can."

Tom nodded. "Actually, I was wondering when you'd bring that up," he said. "Having to pretend that you're mute all the time does get sort of tiring for both of us. Tonight's as good a night as any for telling Peter."

Soon they were back to training. Though the downpour continued, Tom decided not to use his umbrella for the rest of the morning. It may have been a relatively minor gesture, but he wanted to at least let his Pokémon know that he was working under the same conditions as they were.

* * *

Peter had predicted correctly: by the time he and Tom had lunch, the storm had already blown over. After lunch, the two of them trained for a few hours at the National Park until Tom told Peter that he was finally ready to face the town's gym leader, Whitney.

When they approached the gym, they saw that, to their surprise, the P.P.P. was still there.

"You've got to be kidding me!" said Peter. "I'd figured that even if they'd planned on staying this long, the rain would have washed these idiots away!"

Tom sighed. "Oh well. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to… what? Manny!"

Manny was running up to the blocked entrance of the gym, where the woman who'd scolded Peter the previous day stood shouting phrases into her (new) megaphone; she was clearly the leader of the group. She stopped shouting when she saw the Machop approaching her. Tom and Peter looked on in confusion as Manny motioned for her to kneel down to Manny's level, which the woman hesitantly did. Manny then put his hand between his mouth and her ear, clearly to say something to her in secret, though anybody who did not know that this particular Machop could talk would not have realized this. The woman's face turned completely white; her eyes widened in horror. Manny ran back to his master, leaving the woman in her shocked state.

Slowly, the woman, still white in the face, stood up and held up her megaphone. "Um, listen, everyone," she said in a much less confident tone than before. "I think our point has been made here. So, uh, mission accomplished. It's time to… to move on to our next rally. Yeah."

Tom and Peter looked on in disbelief for the next fifteen minutes as the group confusedly and uncertainly packed things up to leave. Some questioned their leader's decision or tried to argue with her, but she never responded with more than one or two words at a time. At one point, using the noise of the scene as cover, Tom whispered to Manny, "What the hell did you _do_?"

"Nothing much," Manny whispered back, though a large and mischievous smile spread across his face. "I just told the woman exactly what I'd do to her if she didn't get out of the way and leave." Tom looked unsure of whether to be cheerful or horrified.

Eventually the entire group had vanished and Tom and Peter just continued staring at the gym, dumbstruck. Of course, Peter could only shut up for so long. "Wow, I have no idea what just happened, but that was great!" he said. "Hey, do you think the gym is open now?"

As if to answer his question, the building's door opened; out stepped a smiling young woman with pigtailed red hair. "Oh goodie, they're finally gone!" she said after looking around. She then looked towards Tom and Peter. "Hey kids, the gym's open now if you wanna come in!" she told them.

Before long, Tom, Peter, and Manny had followed the woman into the gym. Goldenrod Gym's interior wasn't as quirky as those of the last two gyms Tom had been inside of, but the main room was just as large and open. "I'm Whitney, the Gym Leader here," said the woman. "Sorry this place is so empty, but you know, the gym was just blocked and all that."

"How'd you get in, then?" asked Tom.

"Well, I didn't have to get in when I never left, now, did I? Gym Leaders live in their gyms, ya know. No point in having another house when you've already got such a nice big one that you'll be spending most of your time in anyways."

"Wait… the P.P.P. trapped you inside your _own house_?"

"During work hours, yeah," Whitney replied. "But hey, they're gone now, so no harm done." Her expression became more curious. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" she asked Tom.

"Um…."

"Oh, I know!" Whitney exclaimed. "You helped fight off the Space Pirates, didn't you? I remember now – I was there too!"

"It's true, we did!" said Peter. "Wait, you recognize me too, right?"

"Of course I do," said Whitney. "That interview you gave was pretty memorable." Tom blushed and Peter laughed. "But anyways, you both came here to battle me, right?"

"Actually," said Tom, "it's just me for now."

"Oh, say no more!" said Whitney. She turned to Peter. "Um, you might want to get out of the way," she told him.

"No problem," said Peter, and he ran off to one of the stands lining the side of the room.

Meanwhile, Whitney walked to the other side of the room and then once again faced Tom. "It'll be my two Pokémon against however many you've got!" she shouted. "Are you ready?"

Tom clutched his first Pokéball. "Any time!" he shouted.

"Okay! Go, Clefairy!"

"Go, Ralph!"

The Clefairy and the Pikachu appeared in front of their respective trainers. "Use Thunder Wave!" Tom shouted.

Whitney remained silent as Ralph released a quick jolt of electricity from his cheeks, zapping the Clefairy so as to demobilize it. The Clefairy, however, was prepared: after Ralph's move paralyzed it, it brought the Lum Berry already in its hand to its mouth to eat. It was then that Whitney finally spoke: "Great, now use Mimic!" The Clefairy stopped shaking and crackling with static; the berry had cured its paralysis. Now it raised its arms and concentrated.

"Quick, use ThunderShock!" Tom ordered. But Ralph had no time to act before getting zapped by a Thunder Wave from his opponent's hands. Now it was Ralph who was shivering and cackling in paralysis.

"Clefairy, use…."

"Come back!" Tom said before Whitney could finish giving her order. His paralyzed Pikachu was withdrawn into its Pokéball. "Go, Albert!" The Kadabra materialized in front of Tom.

"Use another Thunder Wave!" Whitney shouted.

"Disable!" said Tom.

The Clefairy raised its arms once again; as it did, Albert began directing psionic waves at his opponent. Albert was zapped by a paralyzing bolt of electricity just as he finished his own attack. Tom's Pokémon was now paralyzed, but Whitney's could no longer use the Thunder Wave it had just acquired.

There was still time before Tom could switch Albert out, so Whitney called out her next attack: "Metronome!"

"Use Psybeam!" said Tom.

Albert was too paralyzed to move. Fortunately for him, the Clefairy merely splashed around, doing no damage whatsoever. Tom looked at my screen – as he did routinely – to learn that Splash was the move brought forth by the random attack generator that is Metronome. So nothing happened, and then the thirty seconds were up. "That's enough for now!" said Tom, and he withdrew Albert.

"Clever move," said Whitney. "You'll have to do better than that, though - my Clefairy just paralyzed two of your Pokémon and hasn't even taken a hit."

"That's about to change," said Tom. "I wanted to save this for later, but… go, Manny!"

Manny jumped onto the battlefield. "Use Karate Chop!" Tom ordered.

"Now, Metronome!" said Whitney.

Manny ran towards the Clefairy, who began wagging its finger back and forth. Manny successfully landed a Karate Chop on the Clefairy; as soon as his attack finished, a large amount of water appeared out of nowhere and rushed at Manny. Tom glanced at me to learn that Metronome had allowed the Clefairy to use Brine.

"Just one more Karate Chop!" Tom shouted.

"Another Metronome!" said Whitney.

The Clefairy began wagging its finger back and forth. Manny raised his arm in a fighting position… and just stood there. "What are you waiting for?" Tom yelled, frustrated.

"Your Machop's infatuated," I told him. "The Clefairy's Cute Charm took effect when Manny made contact with it with his last attack."

"You mean he can't attack the thing because he's too _attracted_ to it?" said Tom, appalled. Meanwhile, the Metronome took the form of a Charge Beam, zapping Manny with a concentrated beam of electricity. "Come _on_, Manny, it's just a stupid pink puffball!" Tom yelled. "There's a million more like her, and _this one_ just zapped you!"

"Yeah, bro, and she's probably a bitch," Peter contributed. "Bros before hoes, dawg. Don't you be messin' with them chicks."

"You're not helping, Peter," Tom mumbled to himself.

Manny was not encouraged; having gotten back up and into a fighting stance, the only motion he made was to slowly walk one step forward and then stop again. He was actually drooling a bit as he looked at his opponent. "Metronome!" shouted Whitney.

"Ugh, forget it," said Tom, and he withdrew Manny to his Pokéball. "Finish this, Charlie!"

Charlie was beamed into the battlefield. The moment he appeared, the Clefairy used its Vacuum Wave, the move which Metronome had brought forth; Charlie was knocked down by an invisible wave of, well, vacuum. "Charlie, use Smokescreen!" Tom ordered.

"Metronome! Again!" shouted Whitney.

After getting back on his feet, Charlie breathed a cloud of smoke towards the Clefairy, who once again wagged its finger back and forth. Two seconds later, the Clefairy tried to deliver a Rolling Kick to its opponent, but attacked at entirely the wrong area. "Now, Flamethrower!" said Tom.

Tom had spent quite a bit of money on T.M. 35 to teach his Charmeleon to use Flamethrower, but it proved to be a worthy purchase. Charlie scorched the Clefairy with the stream of flames he released from his mouth. When the attack was over, the Clefairy looked badly burnt… and unconscious.

"That's enough!" said Whitney, who withdrew her Clefairy. "Go, Miltank!"

The pink, bipedal, cow-like Pokémon Tom had seen with Whitney during the Pirate invasion appeared in the battlefield. "Use Attract!" said Whitney.

"Crap, not again!" said Tom. "Quickly – Flamethrower!"

The Miltank struck a pose and made an oddly soothing "_Moo_" sound; Charlie had opened his mouth to release his next attack, but the flames never came out. "You've got to be kidding me!" cried Tom.

"Bro, she make you blind or something?" said Peter, who must've been greatly enjoying himself. "That bitch be a total fatty."

"Peter's right this time!" said Tom. "Come on, Charlie, look at her – she's a _cow_!"

"That's a terrible thing to say about a lady!" said Whitney. "Miltank, punish them with a Rollout!"

A layer of rock slowly began to surround Miltank; soon she looked as if she was inside of a barrel made of rock. She then fell to her side, landing on the rock layer, and began rolling forward. Charlie was still too love-struck to move out of the way before getting hit. "Come on, Charlie, attack!" said Tom. Charlie did nothing before Miltank rolled over him again. "At least move, for goodness sake!" But now the Rollout was moving faster; Charlie could not have dodged the next attack if he had tried. It was that third hit which took out whatever was left in him.

"Come back," said a disappointed Tom as he withdrew his Charmeleon. Miltank's Attract wouldn't work on female Pokémon, but Tom only had two of those: Pippa and Umanda. Instead, he thought he'd try something different. "Go, Albert!"

Albert, still paralyzed, was beamed out of his Pokéball. "Oh no you don't!" said Whitney. "I'm not falling for that one again! Miltank, use Rollout!"

"Drat!" cried Tom, who'd clearly been waiting for Miltank to use Attract again so that Albert could then Disable it. "Whatever – just use Psybeam!"

The rock-encased Miltank rolled over Albert, who was too paralyzed to dodge anything. Albert then hit his opponent with a psionic wave similar in appearance to Confusion, but more intense and more visible. "Keep using Psybeam!" shouted Tom.

"More Rollout!" said Whitney.

Though paralyzed, Albert did manage to get one more Psybeam in before being hit by Miltank's Rollout three more times, fainting him. Tom withdrew his Kadabra once again. "I don't have many choices here, so… come on out, Umanda!"

Tom's Eevee appeared in front of him. "Just keep using Quick Attack!" said Tom. "Get in as much damage as you can!"

"Miltank, you know what to do – Rollout!" said Whitney.

Though she was encased in rock, much of Miltank remained exposed – especially at her shoulders and above – and it was here that Umanda took aim at when charging her opponent with a Quick Attack. When Umanda landed back on the ground, she was hit by Miltank returning the favor with a Rollout. Miltank rolled away and Umanda got back up, looking more pissed off than ever, as if the Rollout had been a personal insult. In the blink of an eye, she had hit Miltank with not one, but two more Quick Attacks. Umanda landed on the ground and faced her opponent; Miltank rolled towards her opponent, but got slower and slower as she rolled. When Miltank came to a stop, it became clear that she had fainted.

Whitney withdrew her Miltank, Peter cheered from the stand, and Tom ran over to Umanda. "Way to go – you did great!" Tom told his Eevee. Umanda affectionately rubbed her head against his leg.

"Aw, man… I hate losing," said Whitney, sounding disappointed. "But still, congratulations and stuff… you want this badge, right?" She gave Tom the Plain Badge, as well as T.M. 45 (which taught Attract), before Tom and Peter left the gym.

* * *

Tom and Peter talked about the battle with April and Opal over dinner at the Pokémon Center. They also discussed where, exactly, they would go from there.

"The next gym is in Ecruteak City up north," said Peter. "I say we head there after dinner and get there tonight."

"Wait a moment," said Tom. "What about you? You never won the badge here in Goldenrod – shouldn't we stay until you have it?"

"Ah, I thought you might ask that," Peter replied. "Here's the thing… I was never really all that into the whole badge collecting stuff. I mean, sure, it'd be neat to win eight of them and get to the Pokémon League and all, I just don't feel like it's really that important for me to do so, at least not right away. Then there's that Jude kid… man, I'd like to see the look on his face when you become the League Champion and he doesn't." Peter smiled. "What I'm trying to say is, you have a lot more to work for than I do. You're a lot more determined. I don't want to hold you back – and if you're going to keep moving, I'd rather be there with you than stay here just for the badge I can get later anyways."

Tom was taken aback. "You, um, you really want to go with me to Ecruteak City right away?"

"Sure," said Peter, "why not? Like I said, I could always come back here whenever to get the Plain Badge later. Yeah, tonight's as good a night as any… I just need to go tell my parents and say goodbye to them first!"

* * *

"You know," Tom told April, "we never did end up battling, even with me being here all this time."

Tom and Peter stood at the northernmost end of Goldenrod City, their backs to the city's exit and their bikes ready at their sides. Facing them were April and Opal, there to bid them farewell; above them, the sky was tinted yellow as the sun began its descent.

"I know," said April. "We'll still get to it eventually, though. Johto's a big place, but it's not _that_ big; it's not like I won't see you anymore now."

"Alright," said Tom. "In that case, see you two eventually."

Suddenly, Tom found himself in Opal's arms. "Thank you thank you thank you a million times again for saving my life!" she said. "You were great even if you're modest about it and I won't forget it ever and I'll miss you lots when you're gone!"

"You're… welcome," said a red-faced Tom, who timidly hugged her back.

Opal eventually let go of Tom and ran back a few steps, where she turned to give Peter a quizzical look. "You know what?" she said. "Maybe I'll even miss you a little bit, too."

"Wow, thanks!" said Peter. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me!"

After a final bout of good-byes, Tom and Peter were on their bikes, riding off to their next destination.


	12. Ludus

Samus waited in the laboratory at the Ruins of Alph with Professors Elm and Birch; outside, Professors Oak and Rowan were escorting the arriving governor.

"What's this governor's name, anyways?" asked Samus. "I don't think I've been told even that yet."

"He, uh, he just likes to be called 'Governor'," said Professor Elm. Samus thought this to be quite vain of the man, but kept the thought to herself.

"I guess we have sort of left you in the dark about our visitor," said Professor Birch. "There is one more thing you should probably know about our Governor: you see…." They heard the door opening above them. "…Too late! You'll see what I mean when he comes down."

At the bottom of the stairs, three figures turned a corner to face those already awaiting them: Professor Oak, Professor Elm, and a pink creature between them. The creature had two arms, two legs, and a tail; it was very tall, at least if the spectacular crown-like shell on its head counted, and fairly wide as well. It also had a protrusive pale jaw, and its neck was lined with a goofy-looking red and white collar.

"Samus Aran," said a voice. "It is certainly a pleasure to meet you. I am the Governor of the Japano Province of Pocket." Samus wasn't sure where to look, though her eyes kept resting on the pink creature. "I gather that you have not been informed of my appearance," said the voice. "Yes, I, the Governor of this province, am a Pokémon. More specifically, I am a Slowking. Us Slowking are known for our intellect and our tendency to keep a level head in even the most difficult of circumstances, and thus are natural leaders. I do not mean to brag, of course, only to refute any doubts you may have about my effectiveness as a Governor relating to my rather unprofessional appearance and atypical employment within a human community." Samus had indeed harbored doubts about such a silly-looking creature having such an important job, but mostly she just wondered how he was talking (living up to his species' name, his speech was slow) without moving his mouth.

Soon, the six of them – Samus, the four professors, and the Governor – were all seated in a circle. The Governor requested a holoscope from Rowan, who handed it over; soon, a holographic display of the galaxy was above them. "I believe it is time to get down to business," said the Governor. "As you have been informed, Samus Aran, many of Pocket's secrets are very close to being uncovered, if what we believe is correct. We have deduced that the key to this knowledge can likely be found within a relatively small box on an abandoned planet. That planet's name is Ludus." Two flashing dots appeared on the map of the galaxy, one labeled "Ludus" and another labeled "You Are Here". "Do you understand me so far?"

"That's not even in the same sector!" remarked Samus. "To travel so far… and why do you need me, anyways? I'm a bounty hunter, not a delivery girl."

"Please forgive me," said the Governor, "as I only paused there because I was interested to see how you would respond. I do have a knack for analyzing one's character, given a specific set of information." Samus felt as if the Slowking was smiling, even though, physically, he was not; for some reason, this sensation made her a tad uncomfortable. "For example, rather than ask how one would go about finding a small box on such a large planet, you asked why a bounty hunter was needed to retrieve said box. An interesting choice, indeed, but allow me to now answer both. You are being offered a bounty to retrieve an object we desire because we have picked up a number of unidentified life signatures surrounding this object." A series of zoom-ins appeared on the hologram at Ludus's location until a cylindrical spaceship on the planet's surface was on display. "The ship you see here, whose exact identity is as of yet unconfirmed, was not seen on Ludus until very recently. We do not know why the ship has appeared there. What we do know is that scans have shown that the ship is teeming with life forms. We do not know what these life forms are, or whether or not they pose any threat, but to send unarmed civilians to this location would be an unwarranted danger and a risk we are not willing to take. But to send the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, on the other hand, would be the wisest course of action to take, given that we were lucky enough to come into direct contact with her." Again there was the invisible smile. "Do you accept our mission, Samus Aran? We have quite a bounty in store if you do."

Samus was uneasy. "There's something I want to know," she said. "Ridley, a Space Pirate leader, came down to this planet with me and still hasn't been found. I'm sure you already knew that. What I want to know, especially if I'm going to go all the way to another end of the galaxy, is: what are you doing to find and put an end to him?"

"Do not worry so much about such things," replied the Governor. "The authorities of Pocket, myself included, have been at work searching the planet ever since hearing of your tale. Satellites are scanning the entire surface as we speak; caves and other possible hiding places are being probed and searched as well."

"But what good is that if you can't _do_ anything about it?" Samus asked with a raised voice. "Don't you get that you're sending me on some fetch quest I'll be on for _days_ while leaving this tiny little undeveloped colony of a planet to deal with whatever Ridley throws at you all on your own? Don't you see what danger you're putting yourself in?" Samus took a deep breath; she had not meant to come across as being so tense.

"Samus," the Governor said softly, "believe it or not, Pocket existed before you were here. We will continue to exist when you are gone, as well. Our fate has never been held in the balance by a single bounty hunter in the past; that can remain true for at least a few more days. Should we need to defend ourselves, we will, by whatever means necessary. Do not believe that your uninterrupted presence is essential to us at this moment, because it is not. You would not be of much use here for however much time it takes to find Ridley, and possibly longer, whereas you could be of great use to us by accepting this mission. Do you not agree?"

Samus didn't feel like she had much of a choice, however uneasy she may still have been. "Okay, I'll go," she said. "Tell me the details – I'll need to know what this box thing looks like and how to find it."

* * *

Before departing Pocket, Samus decided to make a brief visit to the Sevii Islands. There, Bill's map had informed her, the Tanoby Ruins held one of the few known locations of Unown on Pocket. For Samus, that could mean another upgrade left there by the Chozo, and she figured she might as well go to Ludus with as much of her abilities intact as possible.

Samus parked her gunship near an ancient-looking stone building similar to the one she had seen at the Ruins of Alph. The stone structure was on a tiny island whose land area was almost entirely occupied by the structure itself. Samus stepped out of her golden ship's lift, which ascended back into the ship. Around her was the ruins of Tanoby Chambers on one side, the ocean on the other side, and the sky above, which the setting sun made orange. Only the ruins earned the attention of Samus, however, and it was to there that she immediately walked. There was an open rectangular entrance at the building's front which Samus walked through to go inside.

Like the exterior, the interior of Tanoby Chambers had a similar appearance to that of the Ruins of Alph, the main difference being the specific arrangement of paths. Samus walked aimlessly through the dark, confusing maze until finally coming across something else familiar from the Ruins of Alph. A lone Unown noticed her and then hovered around her; though Samus now knew that it meant no harm, she nonetheless readied her Arm Cannon out of habit. A moment later, just as Samus had predicted, she was surrounded by a swarm of Unown circling around her; after another moment, the Unown were in front of her. Knowing what to do from experience, Samus started chasing the Unown before they had even taken off. The chase was short, as it wasn't long before the Unown ended their flight to arrange themselves on a wall. The pattern the formed was, once again, a target-like figure with a word above it; this time, however, the word looked different. According to Samus's scan, it translated to "thunder". Samus knew what to do: she switched to her Wave Beam and shot the rock wall with an electrical blast. The circles formed by the Unown receded into the wall, which itself began slowly descending into the floor until it had disappeared altogether. Behind it was a staircase leading downward.

At the bottom of the staircase, Samus found herself in a large, mostly empty room. The walls were lined with other staircases leading upward, presumably to other rooms in the Chambers. The one wall that was free of stairways was right behind the room's only notable feature: a Chozo statue, holding an orange ball, leaning against the center of the wall. Samus shot the orange shell to reveal its contents: a Super Missile Launcher. Relieved to be reunited with this upgrade, Samus promptly took the long, silver object out of the statue's hands and installed it onto her Arm Cannon. Like the other upgrades she had found here, this Super Missile Launcher more resembled what she had found on Tallon IV than anywhere else: it required a charged Power Beam to be fired, and it used five Missiles as ammo rather than a separate type of ammo specifically for Super Missiles.

Samus noticed activity above her and looked up to see the swarm of Unown moving about chaotically. One by one, they then stuck themselves onto the wall above the Chozo statue, forming a message in an ancient language. Samus scanned and then read the message:

OUR PURPOSE

Of the Chozo on this planet, we alone understand the true purpose for our being here. To differentiate ourselves, those of us with this knowledge use the human scripture known as "Braille" to communicate in place of the more common human alphabet; as this scripture was created for the use of blind humans, the others have begun to mockingly refer to us as the "Blind Ones". Though they deride us, it is they who are blind to the truth, for it is they who have done nothing to help realize Oscelon's vision. Foolishly, they believe that the will of Oscelon will carry itself out, without need for action by those few who have knowledge of it. None have been able to provide an explanation for how this would occur, leaving their theory both irrational and baseless. Clearly, we would not be on this planet were it not our duty to actively mold it into its predetermined final form. For that reason, as this is being written, us "Blind Ones" are creating a new Pokémon, one that will be powerful enough to move entire continents. When completed, it will be used to help us shape this planet's geography to be more compatible with Oscelon's plan, meaning we shall make it closely resemble the geography of Earth. It matters not that we are a minority, looked down upon by the majority of our fellow Chozo; us "Blind Ones" shall see to it that our purpose here is fulfilled.

There was that word again: "Oscelon". Samus had seen that word before – it was in a Space Pirate data log on Clef. This context didn't make it that much clearer what "Oscelon" meant, but it did indicate that it was a living being, one that is talked about as if it were a god.

Of course, the rest of the Chozo lore was filled with startling, yet also confusing, information as well. It was obviously written before the one at the Ruins of Alph, and by the "Blind Ones" referred to in that other piece of lore. That humans, human alphabets, and Earth were mentioned at all was particularly bizarre, and the fact that these Chozo were attempting to make Pocket resemble Earth even more so. It would definitely give Samus a lot to think about on her trip to Ludus; not wanting to waste too much time, she began backtracking through Tanoby Chambers to begin that trip as soon as possible.

* * *

Samus had heard of the planet Ludus before. Thousands of years ago, it was a thriving, industrious colony – one of the earliest planets to be colonized by humans. Unfortunately, humans back then had yet to get the hang of inhabiting extraterrestrial worlds – specifically, they acted under the assumption that the atmosphere of Ludus could absorb as much pollution without negative long-term effects as the atmosphere of Earth. Long story short, it couldn't, and Ludus became completely uninhabitable within a couple of centuries after man's arrival. Of course, after that, humans got much wiser about assessing the atmosphere and environment of any new planet before colonizing it, and eventually pollution itself ceased to be an inevitable byproduct of human industry. Now Ludus had been reduced to a name most frequently heard in history lessons, an all but forgotten relic of an early age of space exploration.

To Samus, the trip there took a few hours; however, while her gunship's Derelativizer smoothed out the effects of relativity, it did not eliminate them, and to the universe around her it had been just over two standard days. Her destination on the planet was obvious enough: when she reached the location, she saw a colossal, leaning tower jutting out of the ground. It was the remains of the ship which only recently arrived – crashed, by the looks of it – here. Samus flew her own ship around the structure, looking for a good point of entry. She noticed a door near ground level and decided that it would have to do; she made her ship descend until it was just above the half-buried ruins of the abandoned colony, where it parked.

"I'm going out for a little stroll," Samus told Adam as she made her way towards the lift. "Man the ship if it's in danger or needs to move for some other reason."

"You act as if I need telling," Adam responded. The lift lowered to the planet's surface, bringing down Samus with it.

Upon stepping outside, Samus ignored the sandy terrain around her and unnaturally cloudy sky above her to focus solely on the circular door on the crashed spaceship in front of her. There was no obvious way to open the metal door; Samus fired a shot from her Power Beam at it, but that did no good. Next she tried a Missile – also no good. Finally, she charged up her Power Beam as much as she could and then fired a Super Missile at the door. This did the trick: when the residue from the explosion cleared, there was a circular hole where the door had been. The doorway was easily large enough to fit Samus, who walked through it to finally enter the wrecked ship.

Inside, it was dark – even darker than it was outside, which is saying a lot, due to the clouds blocking out the sun. Not that it mattered much to Samus, her visor being equipped with night-vision; still, the total lack of electricity troubled her a bit, as there was definitely lighting set up in the narrow hallway she walked through, it just wasn't working.

At the end of the hall was another doorway similar to the one Samus had entered through, but this one was already open, perhaps due to the lack of electricity on board. The moment Samus stepped over to the next room, she saw what the scientists had picked up when they noticed "unidentified life forms". Samus's first reaction: _Ghosts?_ Her second reaction: _POKÉMON?_

There was no doubt about it: the large, circular room she had just entered was teeming with ghost-type Pokémon. Various Haunter, Shuppet, Misdreavus, and other ghostly creatures floated about throughout the tall shaft above her. But not all of the ghosts were Pokémon: there were round, white ones which scans identified as Boos, natives of the Mushroom World; white, cloaked ones called Poes, natives of Hyrule; and many, many others. It was the Pokémon which caught Samus's attention, given where she had just come from, plus the fact that they were so very far away from Pocket; overall, though, it looked as if this ship held a wide variety of ghosts from different planets with no clear reason for being there.

Something flew in front of her: a black ball that trailed purple gas as it moved and had a face – a Gastly. It gave Samus a threatening look; this was all the excuse she needed to give it a few shots of her Power Beam. But they went right through it. The Gastly smiled mockingly at this. Right, Samus thought, trying to remember the Pokémon type-effectiveness chart she'd memorized earlier – normal attacks were useless against ghost-type Pokémon. Samus switched to her Ice Beam. Then everything went completely dark. Samus's immediate reaction was to fire her Ice Beam like mad, her Arm Cannon already aimed at the Gastly. Just like that, the pitch-black darkness was gone; in front of Samus, the Gastly, which had obviously brought the darkness about as part of an attack, had become frozen. Samus fired missiles at the frozen collection of gas until it was no more, or rather, nothing but a black and purple smudge on the ground.

The other ghosts up above were as aware of the commotion as one might expect them to be, and now many of them were facing Samus, with some making motions to move towards her. Samus did not want to get caught up in any unnecessary fights, especially with the number of potential enemies in the shaft being so large; she looked around for a way forward and quickly found one: another open doorway at the other side of the room. Samus ran over to the doorway and then through it, hoping that none of the ghosts would follow behind her.

In the next room, which was much smaller than the shaft she'd just run away from, Samus found… more ghosts. Well, that's not all there was: there was another doorway at the other end of the room, and a staircase led downward to the left of that doorway. But there was also a couple of black, white-masked Pokémon called Duskull, as well as a couple of Boos. Not keen on having to deal with them, Samus gave them all a few quick shots of the Ice Beam to temporarily immobilize them and then made a quick dash to the stairs. She went to the stairs, and not the door, because the Governor had informed her that the box she sought would probably be below ground level, as thousands of years of time tends to leave buried what was once on the surface.

Samus, growing tired of all the ghosts, simply ignored the ones she saw in the room at the bottom of the stairs in favor of rushing to the entrance of the next room. If you're surprised to learn that there were more ghosts in the next room, you really aren't paying attention; this time, however, Samus could not ignore them, as she was immediately hit by a dark, purple ball of energy. Her attacker was a Drifblim – a round, puffy, purple Pokémon. Samus charged up her Ice Beam; the Drifblim readied another Shadow Ball; the other ghost in the room, a Poe, attempted to whack Samus with its lantern. Samus discreetly shifted forward so that, when the Drifblim released its attack, the Poe was right behind her; she jumped over the Drifblim, leaving the Shadow Ball to hit the Poe with enough power to make that Poe disappear. Upon landing behind the Drifblim, Samus shot it with her charged Ice Beam, following the attack up with several missiles. That was enough to end the skirmish, clearing the room of hostile creatures. Actually, there was still a Gengar in the corner, but it had apparently slept through the whole thing and Samus was not about to wake it.

This room had three different ways forward: one on Samus's left, one on her right, and another in the center of the floor, leading downwards. Samus decided that descending another level would be the wisest course of action in terms of the likelihood that it would lead her to the box, so she went over to the hole in the center of the floor and hopped down.

Now Samus found herself in another narrow hallway similar to the one she'd entered the haunted ship through. It was also about as long as that first hallway, and she eventually reached the end to get to a large, spacious room. It wasn't as spacious as the shaft from earlier, as it wasn't nearly as tall and had only one floor, but it was just as long and as wide. Inside, Samus saw a large number of Boos floating around aimlessly. Samus stepped forward, trying to think of how to traverse the Boos and move onward. That's when the blue flames appeared.

One by one, a circle of blue, teardrop-shaped flames appeared in the middle of the room from the floor to the ceiling above. Boos scrambled to get out of the way; the flames looked oddly familiar to Samus, and a moment later, she realized why. A large creature gradually materialized at the center of the circle of flames; it was dark green in color, and resembled a round, bloated oval with a short, fat tube hanging below it, two long tentacles attached to the creature just above the tube, and two spikes jutting out to each side from the same area. The bottom of the fat oval, just above its tube, had a large wrinkle; this was actually a closed eyelid, which then opened to reveal a single huge, round, wide eye within a toothy, jaw-like eye socket.

"Phantoon," Samus whispered to herself. "Fancy meeting you here."

At the time of Samus's last mission to Zebes, Phantoon had been one of the four Space Pirate generals ranked directly beneath Mother Brain, alongside Ridley, Kraid, and Draygon. There, it had inhabited a wrecked ship not unlike the one Samus was currently inside of, where the ghastly green creature had fed off of the ship's power, which could explain the current lack of electricity. That wrecked ship, though, didn't have nearly as much power to feed off of as the Bottle Ship Samus spent a later mission inside of, so when she encountered Phantoon there, it was much more powerful, several times larger, blacker, and controlled hands separate from its body. Here, however, it was closer to its incarnation on Zebes – about fifteen feet in height and dark green in color. Samus wasn't sure how it was here, as she had supposedly killed it twice – she decided this must either have been a clone of the original creature or merely another creature of the same type. That still didn't explain why it was here, but Samus didn't have any time to ponder that – as soon as it opened its eye, Phantoon threw the circle of blue flames at her.

Samus ran away to dodge the flames, getting hit only by the final one; they all disappeared as soon as they made contact with something solid. Meanwhile, Phantoon rotated to remain facing its opponent as she ran. Samus aimed for Phantoon's open eye, which, she knew from prior encounters, was its sole connection to the world of the living. Samus fired missiles at the eye, which twitched violently when hit; Phantoon closed its eye, and the last of the missiles Samus had fired went right through the creature as if it were not there. Phantoon blindly hurled its flames all around the room. Samus jumped aside to dodge an oncoming flame when she felt something she had just jumped into damaging her suit. She turned around to find a Boo, immobilized by her gaze and hiding its face in its arms; Samus found something inherently cowardly about a race of creatures which attacked only when their victim has its back turned. Unfortunately, it was at that moment when Phantoon re-opened its eye, and Samus had just noticed this fact when she was bombarded by a long line of blue flames. Once she was done absorbing all of the damage, she fired a couple of missiles at Phantoon's eye, the first one of which hit its target before the ghoul closed its eye again.

Now Samus was slightly frustrated, but still determined. She switched to her Power Beam, deciding to nail her enemy with a super missile the next time it opened its eye. She charged up her Power Beam, running around Phantoon to dodge flames and Boos as it charged. Then something strange happened: as Samus ran behind a Boo, it slowly hovered towards her Arm Cannon while at the same time struggling to fly in the opposite direction. After a few seconds, the Boo got sucked into the charged ball of energy at the tip of Samus's gun. Samus spent a confused second remembering her Charge Beam's tendency to suck in nearby objects; another blue flame caused damage to her Power Suit during this second. Then Phantoon opened its eye.

Samus immediately fired a super missile, which hit Phantoon's eye with so much force that the creature let out a roar of pain. Then it disappeared. The blue flames were still there, though, floating in midair, so rather than being gone, Phantoon had merely made itself invisible. Samus looked around, thinking. The Boo had been sucked into her Charge Beam… it had become a part of her attack… then Samus remembered the Pokémon type-effectiveness chart and it hit her: _ghost-type attacks are strong against ghosts_. It made sense, after all – ghosts only partially exist in this reality, so attacks from the same phase of existence as them would be more "real" to them than anything from the physical world. Samus knew what she had to do. She switched to her more powerful Ice Beam and then began charging it, dodging flames and running to whatever cluster of Boos she laid eyes on. She had sucked four Boos into her Charge Beam when she got thrown backwards by a swing from one of Phantoon's invisible tentacles. Phantoon had been foolish to reveal its location to Samus, who had fortunately kept her Charge Beam alive through the attack; she unleashed the beam where the tentacle attack had implied Phantoon to be, and was proven correct in her guess of its location when Phantoon gave out another roar and became visible again in front of her. She had shot it in its body and not in its eye, but thanks to the Boos, it didn't matter. Samus fired a couple of missiles at Phantoon's open eye, which it then closed once again. A wave of blue flames shot towards Samus, who narrowly dodged them as she ran over to a couple of panicked Boos. Their panic was warranted, for Samus then sucked both of them into a charged Ice Beam.

Samus fired the charged attack at Phantoon's body. After a few seconds of agony, Phantoon opened its eye, perhaps realizing that it might as well do so if it were going to still take damage either way. It was really angry now: Samus dodged most of another line of flames it sent at her, but was then struck by its tentacle again. Nevertheless, she managed to fire a couple more missiles at its eye in between dodging the flames and getting hit. Phantoon closed its eye for a couple of seconds, opened it again, and then hit Samus with some type of thin, concentrated electrical beam. Samus tried to run away from the beam, but blue flames kept getting in her path to come into contact with her; eventually, she ran away from Phantoon, charging her Power Beam, and then turned to face him again and immediately shot a super missile at its eye.

Once again, Phantoon roared in pain – but this time, the roar was lower and more continuous. Around the room, the teardrop-shaped blue flames began to disappear. Then Phantoon's appearance became completely unstable. It wobbled back and forth like a wave; it became translucent; its color shifted through the whole visible spectrum with extreme speed. Phantoon started glowing; its body waved back and forth more and more dramatically. As it became completely white, Samus noticed something peculiar: there was an image of… something… on Phantoon's glowing body, as if it were a window. Something dark and long, with spikes and black… things on its back. It looked familiar to Samus… perhaps it was a Pokémon? She wasn't sure, but she couldn't look any closer and didn't see it for very long anyways, since then light began shining out of Phantoon's body and, a few seconds later, the ghost forcefully exploded.

The entire room was white for a moment. When the explosion cleared, Samus noticed a couple of things: one, the lights were back on – she must have been right about Phantoon feeding off of the ship's energy; two, the Boos were entirely gone – they must not appear unless it's dark.

"_Self-destruct sequence activated,_" said a computerized voice. "_Five minutes until self-destruction._"

An extremely loud alarm began ringing. The return of electricity must have triggered a self-destruct sequence for some reason Samus was unaware of, though at least the computer had been kind enough to tell her in Standard. Samus looked around. There were two ways out of the room she was now in: the one she had come through and another one on the opposite side. She still had to get that box, and if this place exploded with the box inside, that would sort of put a damper to any chances she had at succeeding…. Hoping that she was making the right decision, Samus ran over to the door opposite to that she had come through.

With the power back on, the door was now closed; Samus had to blast it open with a super missile. Beyond it was a very small room. The only feature of the room was a podium in the center, and on top of that podium was… a silver box. Samus had found what she was looking for. Samus didn't open the box to check its contents, as she had been given explicit instructions to never do so – the box's contents were extremely confidential information. Instead, she put her left hand on the box; the box glowed white as it was converted to energy and then disappeared under her hand as it was absorbed by her Power Suit. The extra weight, Samus noticed, was not very much relative to the box's volume, and she wondered just what was so important that could be so small. She didn't have any time to stand there wondering, though – she had a ship to escape from.

* * *

The haunted ship was rumbling and starting to break apart when Samus finally got back to her gunship. "We have to go now – hurry!" she shouted as she ran over to the cockpit.

The gunship lifted off; Samus watched the tower-like structure on the surface of Ludus blow off more and more chunks as her own ship ascended to the atmosphere. "Why does every place I go to end up blowing itself up?" Samus asked.

"That is a very good question," said Adam. "Speaking of which, you might not want to spend _too_ much time in this ship. I do value my safety."


	13. Ecruteak City

"Here we are!" said Peter. "Ecruteak City!"

The two boys stopped their bikes to admire the view. To the west (their left), the sun was setting, giving the sky an orange tint; in the distance, in front of them, they could see the dark outline of the Bell Tower, the tallest building in Johto. Unlike Goldenrod City, Ecruteak was surrounded by forests on all sides; it was also much smaller than Goldenrod. Tom and Peter miniaturized their bikes and packed them up. "Pretty, ain't it?" said Peter. "Let's just hope this town is ready for us!"

Then they heard a scream from within the city.

"Huh, I guess this town _wasn't_ ready for us," said Peter. "What, am I that ugly or something?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't think that's relevant," said Tom.

"Hey, sarcasm – you're catching on!" said Peter. "Anyways, wanna go check out what that scream was about?"

"Do we even know where to look?" asked Tom.

"Well, that might be a good place to start," Peter replied; in the direction he was pointing in, a large amount of black smoke was rising.

* * *

The boys reached the source of the smoke at the edge of town to find quite a spectacular scene. The smoke, as one might expect, had come from a fire – a small building was entirely in flames. But what was truly spectacular was the cause of the fire: a huge, golden bird hovered just above the building, assaulting it with flames from within its long beak. The sun reflected off of it in such a way as to make it appear to shine every color of the rainbow. The people around the building were either running away in fear or looking on with interest (from a safe distance).

"Whoa… what's happening?" asked Tom. "What's that bird?"

"It's Ho-Oh," said a stranger nearby; Tom glanced to his right to find a large bearded man watching the scene as well. "A legendary Pokémon – hasn't been seen for a while, but now he must've come back to get rid of those things that went in there."

"What things?" asked Peter.

"Just a little bit ago," the stranger answered, "these ugly-ass monsters crammed inside the Burned Tower over there, which is about to be a whole lot more burned. But those things… crap, it's them!"

He was gone before either boy could fully process what was happening at the burning Burned Tower: a horde of small, airborne creatures flew out of the roof (which had already been burned off in a previous fire, long, long before then) and away from Ho-Oh. They were round, consisting of a gel-like, green-tinted substance transparent enough to expose their red innards. Four curved fangs protruded from beneath them. Their appearance prompted some screaming and running from those nearby. Tom apparently knew about the creatures already, for he then stuttered, "Those… those are… Metroids! _Run!_"

They sprinted away from the scene, Peter taking the lead as usual; they had not run very far, though, when they were forced to stop. A Metroid bobbed around in the air right in front of them. Tom froze, and his pulse throbbed in fear. "What now?" he asked in panic.

Peter simply stood there, silently watching the Metroid bob up and down. Indecisive, Tom stepped backward, grabbed a Pokéball, and looked between Peter and the Metroid all at once. Then Peter did something very odd. He took a Pokéball out of his pocket and threw it at the Metroid. The Great Ball hit the Metroid, opened up, beamed the creature inside, and then closed as it fell to the ground. It shook… and shook… and shook some more… and then clicked and stood still.

"Holy hell Peter!" Tom exclaimed. "That was… what did you just… wow!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty cool," Peter bragged as he made to pick up his Pokéball. "That was some nice quick thinking there, huh?"

"I can't believe that actually worked!" said Tom. "That wasn't even a Pokémon!"

"Sure it was," said Peter. "If it fits in a Pokéball, it's a Pokémon. Everyone knows that."

The fire at the Burned Tower was dying down – Ho-Oh was flapping its wings vigorously in an attempt to put it out now that the Metroids had flown away. Tom and Peter stopped talking to watch in awe (much as it surprised me that Peter could shut up for even a moment). Ho-Oh continued blowing out the fire with its wings for a while; when it finally stopped, the fire was practically gone, with only a few flickering remnants here and there. Ho-Oh then flew directly above the Burned Tower and slightly sank into it. Suddenly, a glowing, glittery substance surrounded the legendary Pokémon; it fell into the building below. When the glittery stuff had completely fallen beneath Ho-Oh, it rose up higher into the air. A short pause in the action ensued. Then, so swiftly it nearly made Tom jump back, three speeding flashes jumped out of the building and ran away in separate directions. They were out of sight within a couple of seconds of their appearance. As soon as they were gone, Ho-Oh made a turn around the Burned Tower and flew away with extraordinary speed of its own.

"What were those three things that just came out of the Burned Tower?" asked Peter.

"I don't know," said Tom, meaning that as usual I'd have to make up for the gaping hole in their collective knowledge.

"It was the legendary beasts," I told them. "Entei, Raikou, and Suicune hang around the Burned Tower now and then. By the looks of things, Ho-Oh just had to revive them."

Tom laid his eyes on something near the tower, on which the fire was slowly dying down; rather than spend one second thanking me for my helpful wisdom, he ran over to it, Peter following behind him.

It was a feather. Granted, it was a pretty magnificent feather – shiny, golden, and reflecting the entire rainbow, much like the bird from which it had obviously dropped. Tom picked it up and inspected it.

"Cool feather," said Peter.

"Sure is," said Tom as he stored it away in his backpack. The two kids stood facing the remains of the Burned Tower as a firefighting team arrived to extinguish what flames were left. "So, Peter," Tom said, "what're you going to do with that Metroid you caught?"

"Well, I caught it, right? So then I get to keep it!"

Tom sighed. "Peter, do you even know anything about Metroids?"

"I dunno, apparently they were those round jellyfishy things that came out of the old tower… is there anything else to know?"

"Yeah, how about how they _suck the life out of you_. Geez, you really didn't pay attention to your classes… the Galactic Federation has been trying to exterminate these things for _years_ because of how much of a threat they are to all life in the galaxy!"

"Whoa, sounds like they're some _really_ tough Pokémon."

Tom slapped his forehead in frustration. "You don't get it, they're NOT Pokémon! They don't even come from Pocket! I have no idea why your Pokéball worked on it, but it shouldn't have!"

"Hey there, no need to yell about it. Anyways, I don't care what it is – if I catch it in a Pokéball, it's fair game."

"Peter, please don't tell me you plan to keep that terrible thing. And please, _please_ don't tell me you're going to use it in Pokémon battles."

"And just why not? We're Pokémon trainers. We deal with dangerous creatures all the time. It's just what we do."

Tom groaned. "Peter, what that thing does is _suck people's brains out_. Though I guess that doesn't put _you_ in any danger, come to think of it."

Peter looked at Tom thoughtfully. "You know," he said, "I'm starting to think that maybe you're a little bit upset about this."

I could feel Tom's blood pressure rising to new heights. "You have to tell someone about this! Professor Elm would definitely want to know about evil aliens being caught in Pokéballs – call him and tell him about it!"

"Ew, no!" said Peter. "He'll just want to take it from me to study it or some crap like that. Besides, there's no way I'm telling an adult if it means they might be a killjoy and say I can't keep because it's too dangerous."

"So you _know_ that it could be a danger to you and everyone around you and you _still_ want to keep it no matter what… just because? Come on, Peter, be reasonable – call Elm! Call _someone_, for goodness sake!"

"I already told you, I'm not going to call anyone!"

"Then I guess I will." Tom took me out and held me in his hand. "Professor Oak will be just as interested to hear what happened as Professor Elm would be."

"What the fuck, Tom?" said Peter. "Why're you acting so uptight all of a sudden?"

"Because you're being selfish and dumb! That Metroid is a threat to your life and the lives of anyone who happens to be nearby when you release it! There's no way I can keep sticking around you if you're going to be crazy and reckless enough to keep it!"

"What is all this? Oh, wait, is it that you're afraid to take any risks because your mommy told you not to?" Tom went completely rigid; his high blood pressure reversed. "Whatever," Peter continued. "Call whoever you want. I'm going back to Goldenrod. Dunno why I passed up that third badge just to get lectured." Then he walked away. Tom, still rigid, only watched as Peter's silhouette got smaller and smaller with distance until, eventually, it was completely gone. His body felt cold, as if he really was frozen, and he had goose bumps all over.

Tom spent many more minutes with his eyes on the meeting of the city and the darkening sky, barely moving a muscle the whole time. When he finally did move, his first action (after putting me back into his shirt pocket, unused) was to release Manny from his Pokéball. Manny seemed uncertain of how to act. "Let's go to the Pokémon Center," said Tom. "I don't feel like training any more tonight."

The two of them walked off towards the Pokémon Center, where Tom would book himself a room, lay down on the bed, and cry himself to sleep.

* * *

"Tom, wake up!"

Tom had slept through my alarm undisturbed, leaving Manny the task of awakening him. The Machop shook his master in an attempt to get a response. "Come on, it's morning now! The sun's out and everything! No point in wasting time cooped up in here!"

Finally, Tom grunted softly, opened his eyes (barely), and very slowly lifted himself into a sitting position. Still as slow as ever, he brought his hands over to his eyes and rubbed them. His face still had the residue of dried tears from the night before. "I was just dreaming," he said in a hoarse voice. "It was a really bad one. Something about Peter getting his head bitten off by a Metroid. No, wait… it was an Arbok, not a Metroid. No, right, I remember now… it was some weird mix of an Arbok and a Metroid. Something like that."

Tom yawned, and then he spoke again in the same hoarse, emotionless tone. "That's how my dad died, you know. An Arbok bite, I mean. Right on the ankle. I was four at the time."

At this point Manny hopped onto the bed beside Tom to hold his shoulder in comfort and sympathy. "He was a field researcher," Tom continued. "He was doing field research when it happened. The Arbok just popped up out of nowhere and bit him. It felt threatened or something. Didn't even take five minutes for the poison to kill him. That's what I've been told, anyways. Not like I remember much about him, since I was so young and all." Manny sat next to his master, clutching his shoulder with an outstretched arm and looking at him sadly, but did not speak. I knew that, while he could feel sympathy for Tom, he could not relate; Pokémon do not have the same connection with their parents that humans have.

"I've heard some other things about him, too," said Tom. "How he never cared about how much danger he was putting himself in. He was totally carefree, always ignoring any risks that got in his way. Like Peter. Now he's dead." There was a short silence before he spoke again. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten so angry at Peter. I just didn't want him to end up like my father. He was the first person I could ever call my friend; I don't think he really knew how much that meant to me. I dunno, maybe he was right about… about my mom making me too cautious. Not like I have much room to talk down on him; I'm a Pokémon trainer too. That's a dangerous lifestyle already." He looked at Manny. "What do you think? Did I overreact back there?"

"Hey now, don't go asking me for _that_ kind of advice," Manny answered. "I'm a Pokémon; humans are still a mystery to me, even if I think a lot like them. You're going to have to figure this one out on your own. Unless you want to ask Dexter for advice, that is."

"I somehow doubt you'd find my advice helpful" I admitted. "However, should you ask, I'd tell you to stop being such a crybaby, and that the Metroid would be making the universe a better place by murdering that idiot anyways."

"Yeah, not helping," said Tom.

"Tom, I'm sorry about your father," said Manny. "But there's only one thing I can tell you right now. Look at Charlie over there." Manny pointed to a window nearby, which Charlie was looking out of, anxiously wagging his tail. For the last few minutes, he'd been walking back and forth between windows, looking outside and wagging his tail; he was acting very restless. "He's just dying to get out there and work off some energy," Manny told Tom. "It's what he's used to; it's what we're all used to. Even if things look down for you and you feel like crap, you have to _keep going forward_. You have six living things depending on you now, and we're all waiting to know what the next step is. And unless you're about to do something about the stuff that's bothering you, the obvious next step forward is what we've been doing for many days now. Either way, we can't just stay in this room. You let every rough spot bring you to a stop and you'll never get anywhere. So what're we going to do now?"

Tom continued to watch Charlie acting restless. "We're going out to train," he said. "Whatever happens with Peter… well, for now, it's out of my hands. But in the meantime, we're going to keep moving on like normal."

* * *

"So, Tom… what is a Metroid, anyways?"

Manny was taking his first break that morning, having just defeated a string of wild Raticate and Tauros on Route 38. He and Tom stood against a couple of trees, facing the wide, grassy route's many paths.

"There isn't much I know about them that I haven't already said," Tom replied. "They're from a distant planet – I forget what it's called – and they suck the life out of other living things. Space Pirates have tried to use them for themselves a bunch of times, so the Galactic Federation sent Samus Aran to kill them all. She mostly succeeded, I think, but… if I remember right, there was one that lived on, and that one's been cloned to make more Metroids a few times. That's what I remember from the v-scholar, anyways." Probably realizing that Manny might not know what a v-scholar was, he added, "That's what they use to educate kids – virtual scholars."

Manny nodded. "So what were they doing here, then?"

"I have no idea," Tom admitted. "Actually, I was wondering how they even got here. Pocket has some pretty heavy defenses, and even though a few Space Pirates got through it on a meteor, you'd think they'd have started shooting down meteors after that. Maybe the Metroids came here with those Pirates? No, Samus would've known about that… it's very strange, anyways."

"No kidding," said Manny. "First Space Pirates, now these alien life-suckers… things are starting to get too weird for comfort, if you ask me. It definitely can't mean anything good." Manny stretched his limbs. "Well, if it does mean something bad, I ought to train as hard as I can to be prepared for anything that might happen. Either way, back to work!"

* * *

Eager though Manny may have been, he did not have much potential against Ecruteak City's gym leader, who specialized in ghost-type Pokémon. Thus, as the day dragged on, Tom spent more time training his other Pokémon rather than Manny, especially Umanda, whose evolved form would be particularly useful, being a dark-type.

While Tom allowed his Pokémon to take a relatively lengthy rest a couple hours after dinner, he and Manny reminisced about their most recent gym leader battle.

"I can't believe it," said Tom. "All that work, all that training, and then all it took was a pretty face to bring you down and make it all for nothing."

"Hey, give me some credit," Manny retorted. "At least I got that one hit in. Besides, I'd like to see _you_ hurt a girl as hot as that."

"As hot as what? A pink ball of fluff? Heck, I couldn't even send you to fight a big fat cow or else _she_ would have worked her charm on you."

"Hey, it's not like I get what there is to see in your kind's females, either. You ask me, they're basically males with curvier bodies and a better fashion sense."

"But at least you can tell the difference! Give me a male Clefairy and a female Clefairy and I wouldn't even be able to tell you which one is which."

"You're just relying too much on outward appearance. Sure, they might look more or less the same, but you can tell the difference by… well, I just can. You'd probably have to be a Pokémon to understand."

"Hmm…" Tom said thoughtfully. "…Come to think of it, how do Pokémon reproduce, anyways? I know they're born from eggs, but how do they make them? I've never seen any visible, uh… parts… that they'd need to mate."

"Parts?" Manny seemed confused. "What do you mean, parts they'd need to mate?"

"Oh man," said Tom, his face reddening. "It must be completely different for Pokémon, huh?"

"Sounds like it," Manny replied. "So how do humans mate?"

"Uhhhhhmmmm…." Tom struggled to speak as he hid his red face in his hands. "Okay, if you must know…." And he explained how humans made babies.

"Oh, GROSS!" Manny was now wide-eyed, leaning on a tree with one arm and holding his mouth with the other – he looked about ready to puke. "That's – I can't believe – EW! Dis_gus_ting! And… and you people ENJOY that?"

"Um, well… that's what I've been told, yeah," said Tom, who looked about as embarrassed as Manny looked horrified.

"I'll never see humans the same way again," Manny said, shuddering. "You guys are _sick_." (I'd have to agree with Manny in this case. But then, I find pretty much all biological functions to be revolting; there's just one which humans treat as if it's divine. I'm still not sure how it's any better than urinating.)

"Okay, so then how do Pokémon mate?" asked Tom.

"You were right," Manny began, "it's _completely_ different. Man, how do I even describe it? I mean, the two Pokémon involved have to be attracted to each other, and then… you have to understand, it's not nearly as physical for us. We don't even really have to touch at all for it, we just… connect. It's sort of like a move, like the ones we use for battles, but with two Pokémon working together on it. It's like they call for the egg to come. Then, soon enough, it appears. Like I said, it's hard to describe."

"Weird," said Tom. He must not have had anything else to say about it, because a long silence ensued.

"It's getting kind of late, don't you think?" Manny eventually pointed out. Indeed, the sky above them was dark, illuminated only by the moon, which was barely more than half-full.

"Yep," said Tom. "We'll only be out here a little longer, though. The Kimono Girls are battling challengers tonight at the Dance Theater – you can bet that we'll be there as soon as all that gets started."

* * *

"You must face all five of us in order," said the woman in the red kimono, whose black hair was tied up in a bun. "We will be using five Pokémon, so you must too." The black Umbreon at her side casually walked forwards. "Please enter your Pokémon so that the battle may begin."

"My Pokémon is already here with me," said Tom. "Come on, Manny!" Manny jumped in front of Tom.

"Use Quick Attack," the Kimono Girl calmly stated.

"Use…" Tom began, but rather than finish the command, he merely watched as the Umbreon rammed into Manny at a high speed. "Way to take it," said Tom, "now counter with Revenge!"

With his opponent right in front of him, Manny made a fist, swung his arm back, and then delivered an extremely powerful punch right to the Umbreon's face. The damage caused the Umbreon to make choking noises as it rolled several feet backwards. When it stopped rolling, it did not get back up.

"That is enough," said the Kimono Girl, who withdrew her Umbreon. She looked at Tom and bowed. "To defeat me in one move was truly remarkable. But do not forget that your challenge here has only begun." She bowed again and walked away, to Tom's right.

From the same direction the previous Kimono Girl had just left to, another one walked from to take her place. "There is little need for words; I shall send out my Pokémon to continue the battle," she said. She sent out an Espeon – a Pokémon that resembled Umbreon, but with whitish-purple fur instead of black, and a red gem on its forehead rather than the yellow marks around Umbreon's body.

"Sorry about this, Manny," Tom said as he withdrew his Machop; a fighting-type Pokémon would not be the best choice against Espeon, a psychic-type. After thinking for a second, Tom said, "Go, Umanda!" His Eevee was beamed out onto the wooden stage.

"Use Confusion," the new Kimono Girl demanded as Umanda appeared.

"Sand-Attack!" Tom called out, though by the time he did so, the Espeon's Confusion was already underway. Umanda got hit by the psychic energy and glowed purple for a second; when the attack ended, she did not hesitate to retaliate with her own attack. The Espeon was sprayed by sand which appeared, out of nowhere, beneath Umanda's paws before she kicked it all at her opponent.

"Now, Quick Attack!" said Tom.

"Use another Confusion," said the woman.

Umanda lunged at the Espeon with great speed, ramming her head against its body. The Espeon struggled to not get knocked over by the attack; it slid backwards a little. Now facing Umanda, the Espeon successfully unleashed another Confusion attack at its opponent.

"Sand-Attack! Again!" Tom ordered.

"Continue using Confusion," said the Kimono Girl.

Umanda began kicking more sand at the Espeon; meanwhile, the Espeon immediately created another space-distorting pulse between it and Umanda. Both Pokémon were hit by their opponent's attack. The Espeon shook its head, which had sand all over it, back and forth; Umanda, meanwhile, did not look well after being the victim of three Confusion attacks in a row.

"You can do it, Umanda!" Tom shouted in encouragement. "Just keep dodging and using Quick Attack from here on out!"

"Continue the Confusions as instructed," said Tom's opponent.

Umanda stared at the Espeon – one of her kind's evolved forms – in front of her; her eyes narrowed. The Espeon struggled to take aim at Umanda; when it finally did so, Umanda noticed in time to jump away from the oncoming Confusion. She then speedily slammed against her opponent once again, jumping backwards afterwards. The Espeon again had trouble aiming at its opponent, and Umanda had time to attack it again before it was even finished doing so. Panicked about its declining health, the Espeon spent little time aiming before releasing its next Confusion attack; perhaps as a result of this, the attack completely missed. Umanda used this opportunity to deliver one final Quick Attack, knocking the Espeon down. It did not get back up.

The Kimono girl withdrew her Pokémon. She then bowed to Tom. "That was impressive," she said. "Let us see if you can keep it up." On that note, she walked away.

The third Kimono girl kept things simple, with nothing but a "Let us begin" before releasing her Flareon (the red, fire-type Eevee evolution).

Tom looked at his Eevee, who'd taken a lot of damage from the previous fight. "Do you think you can handle some more?" he asked. Umanda turned her head back and nodded. Tom smiled. "Good," he said. "Then start with a Sand-Attack!"

"Use Ember," said the Kimono Girl.

The Flareon slid sideways to dodge some of the sand Umanda was spraying at it. It then spat many small flames at Umanda, who ran around to dodge them, but was not very successful at doing so. By the time she was done getting hit by the flames, she looked barely able to stand up. "Crud, you look beat," said Tom. "Maybe it's time to switch you out and let someone else…."

Just then, Umanda became nothing but white light. The glowing silhouette of a Pokémon grew a bit larger and started taking a slightly altered shape. The glow began to disappear; that quickly, Umanda had evolved from an Eevee into an Umbreon, not unlike that which Tom had just battled against. I could feel Tom rush with adrenaline at the sight of having finally achieved what he had spent so much time and effort on training for. "Yes! Perfect!" he cried out. "Now test out your new body with a Quick Attack!"

"Use Quick Attack as well," said the third Kimono Girl.

A second later, the Umbreon and the Flareon had collided head-to-head. The Flareon seemed to need only to shake its head a bit to get over the pain; Umanda, however, had had enough, and fainted right there. "You've done plenty for now," Tom said as he withdrew his Pokémon. "Come back out, Manny!" Once again, Tom's Machop appeared in front of him.

"Use Ember, and do not let it get near you," said the Kimono Girl.

"Take it and use Rock Slide!" Tom commanded.

The Kimono Girl must not have been expecting a projectile attack, but Tom had made use of Brock's T.M. As the Flareon spat more flames at its opponent, Manny conjured small boulders out of nothing and threw them at the Flareon. Both Pokémon were hit, but the effect was far greater on the Flareon; the string of boulders flung at it caused it to roll backwards a considerable distance, after which it did not get up. "That's enough," said the woman as she withdrew her Flareon. Like the women before her, she gave Tom a bow. "You clearly have strong bonds with your Pokémon," she said. "Perhaps you can defeat the two who await you." Then she left, to be replaced by yet another woman who looked just like her.

As the third Kimono Girl left, Tom decided to withdraw Manny and grab another Pokéball from his pocket. When the fourth Kimono Girl came, the two of them released their Pokémon simultaneously: the Kimono Girl released a Jolteon – the spiky, yellow, electric-type Eeveelution (yes, they are really called that – "Eeveelutions"). At the same time, Tom released Pippa. He immediately realized his unfortunate error, and quietly cussed at having to now defend a flying-type Pokémon against an electric-type Pokémon for at least thirty seconds.

"Hit it with ThunderShock," said the Kimono Girl.

"Use Sand-Attack all you can! Dodge it!" shouted Tom.

Tom's Pidgeotto blew a wave of sand at her opponent, who shocked her with electricity from its spiky yellow fur at the same time. Pippa quickly recovered from the ThunderShock and began flying in a circle around the Jolteon, blowing sand at it as she went. The Jolteon moved erratically, trying (and mostly failing) to dodge the Sand-Attacks while also trying to shock Pippa at the same time. Due to the sand, some of the ThunderShocks missed, but unfortunately for Pippa, several of them hit her, and those were all it took to bring her down.

"Sorry, Pippa," said Tom, and he beamed Pippa back into her Pokéball. "Your turn, Charlie!"

Charlie beamed onto the stage. "Continue using ThunderShock," the Kimono Girl ordered as Charlie appeared.

"Avoid it and use Flamethrower!" said Tom.

Charlie could not avoid the first ThunderShock, as the Jolteon had timed it to hit him as soon as he appeared. After that, though, all of Pippa's Sand-Attacks continued to hinder the Jolteon's aim, and it was unable to strike Charlie again before the Charmeleon had used two Flamethrowers on it. The Jolteon hit its opponent with a second shock of electricity as it took damage from a third stream of red-hot flames. Charlie was ready for more, but the Jolteon had had enough and fell over.

"Return," said the woman in the red kimono as she withdrew her Jolteon. She, too, bowed to Tom. "You have done very well so far. You have only one challenger left to face," she said before walking away.

One last kimono-clad woman walked up to the stage and faced Tom. "If you can defeat me, we will give you a reward for your skills," she said. She then released a Vaporeon, the water-type Eeveelution with fins on its tail and its head.

"Sorry, Charlie, but you'll have to sit this one out," said Tom, who then withdrew his Pokémon. "Time to finish this, Ralph!"

"Use Water Gun when it appears," the Kimono Girl ordered.

Tom's Pikachu appeared in front of him. As soon as he did, he was hit by a thin stream of water from the Vaporeon's mouth. "Don't just take that, Ralph – ThunderShock it till it drops!" said Tom.

"Use Sand-Attack, and then Water Gun," said the Kimono Girl.

Ralph zapped the Vaporeon with electricity stored in his red cheeks; meanwhile, the Vaporeon kicked sand at Ralph. The Vaporeon ran to the side to force the sandy-eyed Ralph to take aim again; Ralph, however, had to only ThunderShock the next oncoming stream of water, as the attack was then conducted by the water over to his opponent. Just like that, the Vaporeon was out of the fight.

About half a minute after the last Kimono Girl withdrew her Vaporeon, Tom found himself facing all five red-kimono-clad women at once. "Congratulations," said the one in the middle, who was directly in front of Tom. "You have shown remarkable potential here tonight. To acknowledge this potential, we give you this." She handed over a silver disc. "This is H.M. 03. It teaches the move known as Surf, which will allow your Pokémon to travel across rivers and oceans. Use it wisely." Tom thanked them as he took the H.M. "There is one more thing we would like to say," the Kimono Girl continued. "The Rainbow Pokémon very rarely shows itself; that it felt the need to do so last night at the Burned Tower is a sign of troubling times ahead. We dancers can merely entertain the people with beauty of a bygone culture from which this province gets its name; only those with your level of potential will be able to bring us all through the harsh struggles to come. But know this: the Rainbow Pokémon will come to the assistance of a worthy trainer in dire need, should that trainer hold its Rainbow Wing in the sunlight."

"Rainbow Wing?" Tom asked. "Sorry, I don't think I really understand…." But the Kimono Girls had already walked offstage, leaving Tom to exit the theater alone.

* * *

"Those girls were pretty weird, huh?" Tom said to Manny, whom he'd just released from his Pokéball. The two of them began walking away from the Dance Theater through Ecruteak City in the calm night.

"I guess so," said Manny. "But wow, since when did your… since when did our team get so strong? We really whooped their asses out there!"

"Yeah, we did," Tom admitted. "It's great – we should be ready to face this city's gym leader in no time. All we need is for Umanda to get used to her evolved form and then we're set."

"Speaking of which, when're you going to tell that scientist guy about that?" Manny asked. "You know, about Umanda not turning all evil when she evolved. Didn't seem like it, anyways."

"Oh, right!" Tom exclaimed. "I'd totally forgotten about that!" He took a Pokéball out of his pocket and opened it, emitting a flash of light that then took the form of Umanda. She looked at Tom, then at Manny, then at her front paw; she began licking her paw. "Yeah, definitely not evil," said Tom. "Might as well tell Professor Oak now." He took me out of his pocket and dialed the old man up. Soon his face was on my screen. "Hi, Professor Oak," Tom said in greeting.

"Hello there, Thomas," said Oak. "What do you need me for at such a late hour?"

"Take a look," said Tom. He turned me around to face Umanda, who was still licking her paw; then he turned me back. "She's as calm and collected as ever, even after evolving into a dark-type."

"So you say," said Oak, and a smile spread across his face. "This is great news. We're actually coming very close to finding the core problem with these aggressive dark-types – if we can find specific genetic flaws in such Pokémon, it'll be a cakewalk to program a mechavirus to change the targeted DNA to undo those flaws. With the news that Pokémon not born dark-type do not become so aggressive upon evolving, we have one less thing to worry about – we've now ruled out all potential explanations except for inherent genetic flaws, which we can now put all of our energy into discovering. Your friend might have his Murkrow back sooner than we expected."

"Great," Tom replied.

"Is there anything else you'd like to report?" asked Oak.

Tom stared at the ground for several seconds with a serious look on his face. "No," he eventually declared, "that was it."

"Good night to you, then," said Oak, and the call ended there.

"Isn't this great?" I joked as we all began moving again. "Peter might get to use his Murkrow after all! His lifeless remains will be thrilled."

"Shut up," Tom growled.

Some people just have no sense of humor.

* * *

True to his earlier statement, Tom spent much of the next morning training Umanda to get her fully used to being an Umbreon. This didn't seem to take long, but Tom was not taking any chances – he wanted to make sure the transition was perfect before going to Ecruteak Gym that afternoon.

When Tom and Manny did get to Ecruteak Gym, they were greeted by a lot of misty darkness. The entire gym was apparently shrouded in black, smoke-like gas.

"This doesn't look good," said Manny. "How're we going to get to the gym leader if we can't even see where we're going?"

Tom took me in his hand. "You said you don't need to see things visually to sense them," he stated. "That means you can show us where Morty is, right?"

"Maybe I can, maybe I can't," I toyed with him. "What would you do for me in return? Shine my screen? Change my battery? Stop being such an angsty brat?"

"Dexter, _please_ just help us."

"Ah, that's the word I was looking for. Alright, hold me parallel to the ground." Tom did so. I formed an arrow on my screen. "Just keep watching this arrow and walk in the direction it points to."

"Okay," said Tom when he could just as easily have said "thanks". That would've made what I was planning to do harder, though. I couldn't help myself: Tom loyally followed my directions right into a wall. He was so busy looking down at my screen that he walked into it headfirst.

"OUCH!" Tom cried, rubbing his head. "Goddamn it, what the hell was THAT for!"

"Hey, you set yourself up for it. One would think that after my record, you wouldn't be so keen to trust me so blindly."

"Fine, I'll find Morty on my own, then!"

"Oh, no need, if you can just shut up for a second and use your brain." I changed my arrow to make it point in a more accurate direction. "Follow this one. I promise you it's real. And whether you believe me or not, for goodness sake, look where you're going. That wall was visible for at least two steps before you collided with it."

Understandably, Tom was still skeptical. "Manny," he started, "can you…."

"Right on it," whispered Manny, who hopped in front of Tom. "You can kind of see a few feet ahead around here – I'll keep a lookout and feel around for what can't be seen."

There was really no need for this – Tom and Manny ended up in front of the gym leader soon enough without any trouble. Through the black mist, the figure of a young-ish man wearing baggy clothes and a blue headband which covered part of his shoulder-length blonde hair became clear. "Excuse me," Tom asked the man, "are you Morty?"

The man nodded. "That I am," he answered. "I see you've heard of me. Yeah, I'm Morty, the gym leader around here. You probably already know this too, but I specialize in ghost-type Pokémon. They're really fascinating things, ghosts. But you're not here to hear about that – you're looking for a challenge, am I right?"

"Yep, you're right," Tom confirmed.

"Then there's no point in waiting, is there? Come on, follow me." Morty began walking away from Tom and Manny, who followed behind him. When they were about twice their original distance from the entrance, Morty stopped. Here, there were lanterns set up around them to pierce through the black mist; it didn't make the room completely clear, but it did improve the visibility at least a little.

"We'll be battling here," Morty told Tom. "We won't get in the way of anyone training back there this way. I'll be using four Pokémon, but you can use up to six. And let me warn you, you'd better be alert – even with these candles, you won't be able to see much of your own Pokémon, and you'll see even less of mine." He took a Pokéball in his hand. "Anything else you need to know?"

"Nope," Tom answered, grabbing a Pokéball of his own.

"Then let's begin – go, Gastly!"

"Let's go, Albert!"

In the foggy darkness, two figures appeared – a humanoid Kadabra and a floating, spherical Gastly. Their silhouettes were about all one could make out, thanks to the dim lighting and the mist; I could feel Tom tense up in frustration upon realizing this. But his battle instincts still took priority above frustration and all else. "Psybeam!" he called out.

"Use Lick!" said Morty.

Albert shot what appeared to be a wave of circular rings at the Gastly; the dark mist concealed the fact that these rings were extremely colorful. The Gastly spiraled around Albert, but the beam remained focused on the ghost. When the beam disappeared, the Gastly was close enough to Lick its opponent without needing to move. All Tom could see was the outline of something long and flaccid extending from the Gastly and hitting Albert in the face. Due to the types of the moves and their users, both attacks were super effective against their target.

"Quick, Curse it!" yelled Morty.

"Another Psybeam!" said Tom.

There is a purple gas that surrounds all Gastly; the gas around this particular Gastly had up to this point blended in with the fog, it now became more visible as it all gathered above the creature to form sort of a spike. The spike then sank into the very Gastly who had created it. Albert shot another beam of rings at his opponent, but there was really no need; the Gastly fainted from its self-inflicted pain alone. "Good job," Morty uttered as he withdrew the Pokémon.

"What was that about?" Tom whispered.

"Your Kadabra's Cursed," I dutifully answered. "That Gastly sacrificed its health to make its enemy slowly get closer to fainting each moment from now on." Indeed, Albert made a small noise and cringed in pain right then. Tom clenched his fists (which I and his Pokéball were inside of).

"Go get 'em, Haunter!" said Morty as he released his next Pokémon. Haunter, Gastly's evolved form, is a purple, floating Pokémon with a spiky body and two hands unattached to this body. Of course, all Tom could see of this one was its dark outline.

"Sucker Punch!" ordered Morty.

"Psybeam!" ordered Tom.

Albert hadn't even begun his attack by the time the Haunter had disappeared and, a split-second later, reappeared, having punched Albert in the face. The punch itself actually happened a split-split-second _before_ the Haunter became visible again, but only I could detect that. Anyways, Albert tried to get back to his feet, but he only fell back down again – the Curse had taken what was left of his health.

"That's enough, Albert," Tom said, and he beamed his Pokémon back to its Pokéball. "You're up, Ralph!"

The dark outline of a Pikachu now replaced that of Albert. "Whenever you're ready – Thunderbolt!" said Tom.

"Curse!" Morty shouted.

The Haunter was hit by an immensely powerful electric blast originating from Ralph's cheeks – it was basically Ralph's ThunderShock with much more voltage. As this was happening (lighting up the room as it did), the Haunter created a spike out of thin air and sank the spike into its own body, Cursing Ralph.

The attacks both came to a finish. "Give it everything you've got," said Tom, "keep using Thunderbolt!"

"Sucker Punch!"

Before Ralph could move a muscle, the Haunter disappeared into the mist, gave Ralph a big hard punch, and then reappeared, all in the blink of an eye. Ralph got over it just in time to give the ghost another helping of electricity.

"Again – Sucker Punch!" Morty said as the Thunderbolt was wearing off. The very instant that the Haunter could move again, it once again disappeared for a moment to give Ralph another Sucker Punch. Ralph had some trouble getting up afterwards.

"Get up, Ralph!" encouraged Tom, but it was no use – the light at the center of his Pokéball lit up to indicate that his Pokémon had fainted. "Oh well," Tom sighed, withdrawing Ralph. "Guess you'll have to finish this one off, Charlie."

Tom's Charmeleon appeared in the foggy battlefield. "Curse it when it comes!" Morty shouted right before Charlie fully materialized.

"Don't let it! Use Flamethrower!" Tom yelled.

It was too late, though: by the time Charlie's flames reached the Haunter, it had already thrust a spike into itself, causing itself to faint.

"That's enough," said Morty as he withdrew his Haunter. "Watch out, kid, it gets tougher from here on. Go, Haunter!"

He released his second consecutive Haunter. "Two Haunters from the same trainer?" Manny muttered. "How boring."

Neither trainer seemed particularly bored. "Try Flamethrower again!" Tom said as the second Haunter appeared.

"Hypnosis!" said Morty.

"No, wait – Smokescreen! Keep it up and keep dodging!" Tom hastily retracted.

It may seem redundant to use Smokescreen in such a smoky area, but Charlie's smoke was different – it was blacker, for one thing, and it had tiny sediment in it to further hinder his opponent's vision. Helped by the fact that Hypnosis is a fairly inaccurate move, the Haunter kept attempting to point its finger at Charlie but failing to put him to sleep. Charlie himself ran every which way to dodge his opponent as he blew out more smoke.

This went on for a short while until, at one point, the Curse had done enough damage to Charlie to activate his Blaze – even with the dark fog, Tom could see the increased in size in the flame on his tail. Apparently taking this as a cue, Tom yelled, "Now, use Flamethrower!"

Charlie stopped his erratic running and then blew forth a mighty stream of flames – even mightier than his usual Flamethrower. The Haunter took the attack, but also used it to its advantage: the direction from which the flames came revealed their source, which the Haunter could then point at. So it was that when Charlie's Flamethrower died down, Charlie's silhouette sank to the ground until it was lying down, asleep. "Uh oh," said Tom. "Come on, Charlie, wake up!" But Charlie did not wake up. And soon the light on his Pokéball revealed that he had fainted. Tom opened said Pokéball to beam Charlie back into it. "Your turn, Umanda!"

Tom released his Umbreon, whose black body blended in with the atmosphere almost as well as Haunter's did. Morty took a look at his situation and made a decision: "Come back, Haunter."

"Pursuit!" Tom immediately cried.

As the Haunter became the usual streak of white, Umanda suddenly became a long streak of black – one that extended all the way from her starting position to the Haunter. The two streaks collided just as the Haunter was being recalled into its Pokéball. Tom was lucky: there was only one known move that could attack a Pokémon as it is withdrawn, and Umanda happened to know it right when she needed it.

"Didn't see that one coming," Morty admitted. "Whatever – go, Gengar!"

Another purple ghost took the Haunter's place in the room. This one, Haunter's evolved form, had a tall, fat, spiky body with two stubby arms and two stubby legs. Tom could not have seen its constant toothy smile through the mist, but he could easily make out the eerily glowing red eyes.

"Use Dark Pulse!" Tom ordered.

"Put it to sleep with Hypnosis!" said Morty.

Umanda had no time to attack. The Gengar acted fast, and thanks to both skill and good luck, it Hypnotized Umanda on its very first attempt. She was fast asleep on the floor within seconds.

Tom cussed. "Wake UP, Umanda! We sort of need you right now!"

"Scary Face!" said Morty.

The Gengar looked intensely at its sleeping foe, and its red eyes glowed especially bright. The light from its eyes seemed to almost shine a beam through the fog from the Gengar to Umanda. Tom wouldn't be able to withdraw Umanda anymore; he could only watch and hope for her to awaken.

"That's enough for now," said Morty, and his Gengar turned into white light before getting sucked into its Pokéball. "You're up again, Haunter!"

For the third time, a dark purple Haunter appeared in the dark black mist and almost perfectly blended in with it. This was the same Haunter that Morty had just withdrawn, and by this point it was weak and exhausted, but that hardly mattered when its opponent was still snoozing. "Use Nightmare!" Morty told it.

"Dammit, WAKE UP!" Tom repeatedly cried as the Haunter floated over to Umanda and then ominously moved its hands around her. Nightmare has the same effect as Curse as long as the victim is asleep. Umanda thrashed about violently in her sleep while Tom kept yelling at her to wake up.

Eventually, she did wake up. Tom couldn't see her eyes opening through the mist, but her shadowy outline getting to its feet was quite visible. Relief spread across Tom's face. Before he could get a command in, however, Morty beat him to it: "Quickly, use Curse!"

Just as Umanda got up, the Haunter sank yet another spike into itself; after all of the previous trauma, this was the last thing it could bear before fainting. Morty recalled his Haunter for the final time. "It's all on you, Gengar!"

The Gengar appeared once again. "Dark Pulse!" Tom said upon seeing its shadowy outline.

"Sucker Punch!" said Morty.

The Gengar disappeared, delivered the punch, and reappeared even faster than the Haunter had. Umanda looked ready to attack, but then, suddenly, she didn't – her legs became wobbly, her face screwed up in pain. Finally, she could fight no longer, and she fell to the ground.

"Come back," said a disappointed Tom as he withdrew his Umbreon. "Go, Pippa!" The bird soon stood in what had been Umanda's spot.

"Sucker Punch!" shouted Morty.

"Sand-Attack!" said Tom.

There was no dodging the Gengar's next swift punch. After taking it, though, Pippa immediately flapped her wings to blow suddenly-existent sand at her foe, partially blinding the Gengar.

"Now use Gust!" said Tom.

"Use Hypnosis!" said Morty.

"Stay clear of it!" Tom advised.

Pippa took to the air, keeping her sharp eyes on the Gengar as she flew. The Gengar pointed its finger at her, but the invisible hypnotic beam missed its target. After this first failed attempt, Pippa vigorously flapped her wings to blow a strong wind at her opponent. Gengar was launched backwards by the wind, but afterwards got up to try again. This sequence of events happened two more times. Then Pippa slowly descended to the ground, where sat with her head down, asleep. Tom groaned.

"Now use Dream Eater!" Morty commanded.

Despite Tom's pleas, Pippa did not wake up as the Gengar floated up to her and, with an open mouth, literally went right through her. It was as if the two shadows combined for a moment as they overlapped. The Gengar used this moment to absorb Pippa's subconscious activity, both harming Pippa and restoring a bit of its own energy.

"Again!" said Morty.

"Oh no you don't!" said Tom, and he withdrew Pippa before any more of her health could be transferred to her foe. Tom turned to Manny. "Looks like you're the only one left," he said. Manny nodded knowingly and sprinted into the battlefield.

"A fighting type?" Morty said, curious. "Interesting. Gengar, Hypnotize it!"

"Don't let it get you," said Tom. "Use Rock Slide!"

Fighting-type attacks have absolutely no use against ghost-types, and aren't very effective against poison-types (like Gengar) anyways. Foreseeing this situation, Tom had taught his Machop a rock-type move from the T.M. given to him by Brock. While dodging the Gengar's dangerous finger-pointing, Manny conjured small boulders out of thin air – well, the air there wasn't so thin, but you get the idea – and threw them at his foe. Mostly, he missed. Foggy darkness does not make for good seeing conditions, especially when your target blends in with it so effortlessly. Nonetheless, Manny did manage to hit the Gengar with a few of his boulders… before he stopped attacking, lay down, and remained still.

Tom cursed pretty loudly. He was out of options – both of his remaining Pokémon were asleep, and as long as the Gengar could keep absorbing their health, all of the previous damage done to it was meaningless. He only watched helplessly as Morty gave out the next command: "Use Dream Eater!"

The Gengar flew over to its opponent, just as it had before. It opened its jaw, made to devour its opponent's thoughts… and stopped. It only took a second: Manny jumped to his feet, conjured a whole line of boulders, and then threw them all at the Gengar. The Gengar had stopped because it had realized what Tom realized just then: Manny had never been asleep at all. He'd been faking it. He'd opened his eyes a tiny bit so that he could see around him, but that wasn't something noticeable through the darkness and the mist. The ruse worked: the Gengar was hit by every rock hurled its way. When the last rock hit, it got knocked onto its back, a position it did not get up from.

"Come back," said Morty as his fourth and final Pokémon was withdrawn. Manny ran up to Tom to exchange a series of high-fives. Morty looked amused. "Well done," he said. "I haven't had a battle that exciting in a while. You've definitely earned this, that's for sure." He handed Tom the purple Fog Badge. "You've earned this too," he said as he handed Tom a small, silver disk. "It's T.M. 30 – Shadow Ball. I didn't get the chance to use it today, but it's a really powerful ghost-type move. You might find it useful." Tom thanked him for the prizes.

"Hey, just wondering, were you there to see all that stuff that happened at the Burned Tower a couple of nights ago? With the fire and the rainbow Pokémon and such?"

"You bet I was," Tom answered. "It was the first thing I saw when I came to this town."

Morty smiled. "Talk about a warm welcome," he said. "No pun intended. I only got a glimpse of the bird, myself. A shame, since I've wanted to see it my whole life. It's called Ho-Oh, you know… well, I'm probably boring you now, so you can just…."

"No, go on," Tom interrupted. "I'm curious about that. About that bird and why it appeared that night, exactly."

Morty shrugged, but his face looked relieved. "No one knows for sure, but it definitely wanted those weird creatures out of that tower. The crazy little jellyfish just flew on in there like it was nobody's business. So Ho-Oh reenacted a local legend. It burned down the tower, which isn't named the Burned Tower for nothing. Legend has it that it burnt down some hundred and fifty years ago. The legend also says that Ho-Oh revived three Pokémon killed in the fire – which looks like another thing that just happened again. Anyways, I won't stand here and bore you with the details of Johto legends, but hey, thanks for listening. You can be on your way now, if you want."

"Alright then," said Tom. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem," Morty replied. He pointed towards the building's entrance. "You can leave that way. Watch out for the other trainers."

With a final wave, Tom set off to leave the gym.

* * *

"Neat stunt I pulled there, huh?" Manny said to Tom. "Makes up for what happened with Whitney, don't you think?"

"Hey now, just because you went last doesn't mean you did more than anyone else."

Tom and Manny, having exited Ecruteak Gym, were walking towards the Pokémon Center. The afternoon was clear and sunny with the occasional light breeze.

"Everyone's a critic, huh?" Manny lamented. "Oh well – I'll just have to do even better next time. Um, by the way, where're we headed after this?"

"Olivine City," said Tom. "There's another badge to earn there. It's not far, so we might as well get there while the sun's still up."

Manny spoke softer now, and not so confidently. "So… you're not going to check back with Peter, then?"

Tom responded with his own dark change in tone. "No. That's none of my business now. You and the rest of my team… that's all I have to worry about now. And we need to all move forward. Even if we have to do it alone." Then, in a whisper: "Just like how I started out."

The two of them walked the rest of the way to the Pokémon Center in silence.


	14. Olivine City

Traveling from Ecruteak City to Olivine City required going west through Route 38 and then going south through Route 39. Tom was walking with Manny at his side and with Pippa stretching her wings above him. Near the middle of Route 38, he encountered a familiar face.

"Figured I might see you here."

Tom looked around to find the source of the voice. When he found it, he merely exclaimed, "April!"

Indeed, April Maywood was standing in the grassy field nearby, her Flareon at her side. "That's my name," she said. "Are you training now or something?"

"Not exactly," said Tom. "I was actually just on my way to Olivine. What are you up to?"

"Well I _was_ going to train – but more importantly, I'm totally ready to battle you right now!"

"That's great!" cheered Tom. "About time, too. Um, do you mean right now as in this very moment?"

"Right here, right now," April said excitedly. "Talk can wait until later. First I need to prove that I can win against you!"

"You sure seem certain of yourself," Tom observed. Pippa, who'd been circling above Tom for a short while, finally descended and landed on the ground near him.

"Damn straight," said April. "It'll be four of yours against four of mine. Got it?"

"Of course."

"Good." They both prepared for battle, then, simultaneously, called out their first Pokémon.

"Go on, Manny!"

"Come on out, Bayleef!"

Manny ran onto the field to face the green, long-necked Pokémon who appeared before him. "Use Seismic Toss!" Tom told him.

"Reflect!" said April.

A thin sphere surrounding Bayleef sparkled for a moment, as if a transparent glass wall had been put there. Meanwhile, Manny sprinted over to his opponent and grabbed her by the neck; he jumped high into the air, threw Bayleef at the ground, and then landed there himself. The Bayleef got up quickly; Reflect's protective barrier had prevented her from taking too much damage.

"Use Magical Leaf!" said April.

"Take it and use Revenge!" said Tom.

Bayleef twirled the leaf on her head and then released many sharp, sparkling leaves from it. Manny withstood the barrage as he made his way towards Bayleef; he delivered a strong punch to her face upon reaching her. Bayleef recovered and hopped backwards, away from Manny.

The two trainers called out the same attacks again, with the same results. Then April ordered, "Use Synthesis!"

"Just use Revenge again!" said Tom.

Green sparkles suddenly appeared all over Bayleef. They sunk into her wounds, healing them. Meanwhile, Manny threw Bayleef another punch, though this one wasn't as powerful, as he hadn't just taken damage from her – he had nothing to "revenge".

Tom saw that Bayleef had recovered most of her health, and understandably, was not pleased. "This isn't getting anywhere," he sighed. He opened Manny's Pokéball. "Sorry Manny," he said as his Machop was withdrawn. Pippa was still standing next to Tom; he looked down at her, and she looked at him hopefully, awaiting a chance to impress her master. "Alright, Pippa, you're up!" said Tom.

"Switching out, are we now?" said April. "Alright then – enough, Bayleef!" Bayleef was beamed back into her Pokéball as Pippa fluttered over to the field of battle. "Go, Sudowoodo!"

April's tree-like rock made his appearance. "Quick!" April told him. "Use Block so it can't escape!"

"Oh no you don't… use Whirlwind, Pippa!" said Tom.

"What? Wait, no – Rock Throw!" April urgently responded.

April hadn't even finished giving the command, however, when Pippa began rhythmically flapping her wings to twirl the air in front of her. Slowly, a small twister formed while it moved towards Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo swung back his "branches" – or arms, or whatever – to hurl a large rock at his opponent; just then, the twister reached him. On neither the will of April nor Sudowoodo himself, Sudowoodo became a glowing white outline, then a streak of white light, and then he was back in his Pokéball. Pippa did not escape damage, though – just before the forced retreat, Sudowoodo had gotten its rock thrown.

"Fine," said April, "be that way. Come on out, Pachirisu!"

The small, blue, bushy-tailed Pokémon was beamed onto what had been Sudowoodo's location. "Crap!" said Tom. (Pachirisu, as an electric-type, is… yadda yadda yadda. You should really know this stuff by now.) "Use Whirlwind again!"

"Spark!" said April.

Pippa was too slow for Pachirisu, who ran up to her opponent, charging up her power as she did, and then jumped up into Pippa before the Whirlwind had fully formed. The attack, as its name would imply, involved a series of electrical sparks zapping Pippa upon contact. The Whirlwind died; Pippa fell to the ground. Tom withdrew his fainted Pidgeotto. "Your turn, Umanda!"

Tom's Umbreon arrived at the scene from her Pokéball. "Use Dark Pulse!" Tom told her.

"Another Spark!" said April.

Umanda shot an odd, pulsating beam of darkness at Pachirisu, who ran and charged up her electricity again. Pachirisu failed to dodge the Dark Pulse, but once the beam disappeared, she succeeded in tackling Umanda to deal some damage of her own. Sparks spread all over Umanda, zapping her; Pachirisu hopped back to give herself some distance. The sparks disappeared, but the look of electrically-induced immobility remained in Umanda's posture; she'd been Paralyzed. But Tom was not too upset about this. "Dark Pulse!" he said.

"Keep using Spark!" said a satisfied April.

April wasn't so satisfied, though, when she realized that Pachirisu now had every bit as much trouble moving as Umanda did. That was the power of Umanda's Synchronize: as soon as she was Paralyzed, she was able to ensure that her foe had the very same problem.

What followed was a slow struggle for each Pokémon to get in more attacks than her opponent, despite her condition. In the end, Umanda won: she managed to hit Pachirisu with her Dark Pulse twice, while between these hits, Pachirisu managed to use Spark on Umanda only once. The damage was too much for Pachirisu, who fainted after the final Dark Pulse.

"Come back," said April, not so enthusiastic anymore. "Finish it off, Flareon!"

The red Eeveelution was brought out to face the black one. "Try another Dark Pulse!" said Tom.

"Use Ember!" said April.

Umanda had some trouble with her attack; as she was bombarded by small flames, she tried desperately to strike back with a move of her own. Finally, when Flareon had just about finished with his attack, Umanda managed to hit him with a beam of dark energy. But she was weak now, and appeared to have trouble standing on her own two feet; noticing this, April ordered, "Finish it off with a Quick Attack!"

"Quick Attack it first!" said Tom.

Of course, Umanda did not use Quick Attack first, or at all. Flareon's speeding tackle took the last of the Umbreon's fighting power out of her. Tom withdrew Umanda. He now was down to two Pokémon against April's three. Promptly, he made his next decision: "Go, Manny!"

Manny appeared on the grassy field for the second time. Neither Tom nor April wasted any time giving their next command. "Use Rock Slide!" said Tom.

"Use Ember!" said April.

Manny held up his arms to make a large rock appear in his hands, and then took careful aim at Flareon. This gave Flareon enough time to blow small flames at Manny without fear of missing. As he got burned by Flareon's attack, Manny threw the rock – as well as a string of rocks that then appeared above him – at his opponent. Flareon flew backwards as a result of the pummeling that ensued; Manny brushed himself off, looking somewhat beat but still ready for more.

"Seismic Toss!" said Tom.

"Don't let it – use Sand-Attack!" said April.

Manny ran towards Flareon, who kicked sand in his face and then ran to the side. It was too late, though; while April was in the middle of shouting "Ember!" Manny located his opponent and got beside him easily. Manny then grabbed hold of Flareon, jumped into the air, and threw his opponent to the ground, from which he did not get up.

April withdrew her Flareon and then released her Bayleef, all the while clenching her teeth and not saying a word. Apparently remembering Manny's last encounter with Bayleef, Tom opened his own Pokéball so as to suck Manny inside of it. "This looks like a job for you, Charlie!" Tom said as he released his Charmeleon.

April hissed through her clenched teeth before calling out, "Use PoisonPowder!"

"Dodge it and use Flamethrower!" said Tom.

Bayleef blew a purple, powdery substance out of her mouth and at Charlie. Charlie ran away from the powder's line of fire, managing to get behind Bayleef before blowing a powerful stream of flames at her.

"Recover with Synthesis!" April yelled when the flames began consuming her Pokémon. As Charlie's Flamethrower persisted, green sparkles appeared on Bayleef's body, especially where the flames were doing the most damage. They healed the damage, cancelling out Charlie's attack… but not completely. In the end, the fire won out, and hurt Bayleef more than her Synthesis could hope to heal.

"Try poisoning it again!" said April.

"Just keep dodging it and using Flamethrower!" said Tom.

Before Charlie could dodge her again, Bayleef sprinted over to her opponent and spat PoisonPowder at his face point-blank. Charlie tried to run, but was too late – he'd already been infected. Instead he turned back to his foe and blew one last stream of powerful flames at her. Bayleef burned, fell to the ground, and fainted.

April withdrew Bayleef and then, louder than usual or than strictly necessary, cried "Finish this, Sudowoodo!" When her Sudowoodo once again appeared, April was quick to shout, "Rock Slide!"

"Use Metal Claw!" said Tom. This seemed to catch April by surprise – fire-types like Charlie may be weak against rock-type Pokémon, but steel-type moves like Metal Claw certainly aren't. Charlie, who was much faster than that sluggish tree, ran up to his foe to give him a good swipe of his claws. Sudowoodo responded by hurling a string of small boulders at Charlie, who seemed to experience quite a bit of pain with each hit. Still, he stood up again afterwards, and though he was poisoned and badly bruised, he assumed a stance that made him look about to pounce forward.

"Finish it off with one more Rock Slide!" said April.

"Try to dodge it and use as many Metal Claws as you can!" said Tom.

Charlie waited for his opponent to throw more rocks before jumping into action. He dodged each of the rocks successfully, zigzagging between them as he ran towards Sudowoodo. Upon reaching him, Charlie again swiped his front paws at his foe. "Flail!" April cried, and before Charlie could back off, he was hit by Sudowoodo's aimlessly swinging arms. Poisoned and heavily beaten, Charlie finally went down for the fight.

"Great job," Tom said as he withdrew his Charmeleon. "Only a bit more to go, Manny!"

Manny appeared once again to face Sudowoodo. Both Pokémon looked on the brink of collapsing, having been the victims of a number of strong attacks. "We can still win!" said April. "Use Flail!"

"Finish it off with Karate Chop!" said Tom.

Sudowoodo made his way to his opponent… slowly. Too slowly. Manny jumped up, his arm outstretched, and landed an open-handed Karate Chop on Sudowoodo before the latter could do anything about it. A grotesque cracking sound followed the impact, and Sudowoodo's complete collapse followed the cracking sound.

"Come back," said April, her tone as defeated as her Pokémon team. While her Bayleef became white light in order to enter its Pokéball, Manny suddenly made the same transformation. But his transformation didn't end there. He doubled in height, becoming almost as tall as Tom. His jaw stuck out more; his tail stuck out less until it ceased to exist. He grew not only in height, but also in bulk, becoming considerably more muscular. Finally, his shape-shifting was complete, and his white glow disappeared to reveal his gray old self, though now with some red stripes on his arms. Tom came over to high-five his Pokémon in celebration of its evolution from a Machop into a Machoke.

April wasn't celebrating. "Dammit," she said softly, her eyes facing down. "I really thought that I could win that time."

"Hey, don't feel bad," said Tom, who was still giddy over Manny's evolution. "It was a really close one! I just barely beat you. Anyways, it was a great battle, don't you think?"

"Yeah," said April, bringing her eyes back up to level. "I guess it was." She smiled half-heartedly.

Tom switched subjects. "So where were you going to get your Pokémon healed? I was just going off to Olivine City, but…."

"I'll come with," April answered. "Not like anything's that far from anything else around here."

The two of them set off (Manny was so weak from the battle that Tom decided to withdraw him). "You really shouldn't feel so bad for losing," said Tom. "I hate to brag, but… I've actually only lost one battle so far."

"Wow, really?" said an impressed April. "To who?"

"Oh, uh, to Jude Tutino. He's… this guy I know from Kanto."

"Oh. You friends?"

"No, not exactly."

"Well, it's always nice to have someone you can look forward to beating one day. And with your team as strong as it is now, you probably won't lose to that guy next time." April's smile was now much more authentic. "Opal still can't shut up about you, you know. She's totally crushing on you." Tom didn't respond; he looked away to hide his blush. "She wouldn't stop pestering Peter until he told her why he was back without you."

"Oh," said Tom, his mood falling. "You heard about all of that?"

"Yeah," April replied. "The part with the Metroids was all over the news, anyways, so I'd be pretty worried if I hadn't. At least you managed to get away unharmed."

They turned a corner to start heading down Route 39. To their right was a large farm full of grazing Miltank; in the distance ahead of them, Olivine City grew closer with each step.

"So, is Peter still back at Goldenrod?" asked Tom. "When did you see last him?"

"Nah, he left. Got his third badge right before I did, and I haven't seen him since. I just saw him back for a day or so, acting all mopey the whole time, and that was it."

"Mopey?"

"Yeah, I think that's the best word for it. You know, all down and depressed. Sort of like you are now."

It was true – Tom had been devoid of energy ever since Peter's name was mentioned. "Sorry about that," he said.

"That's a strange thing to apologize for," said April. "Heck, just a minute ago, I was the mopey one. For dumber reasons, too. You know what'll cheer us up, though? There's some really good seafood restaurants in Olivine; we should totally check them out as soon as our Pokémon are healed."

"Sounds like a plan," said Tom. Olivine's lighthouse, towering above all else, grew larger and larger to them as they made their way to the city.

* * *

The next few hours were fairly relaxed. Tom and April got their Pokémon healed and then went over to famous local café to eat dinner; once finished, they set about to just exploring the town. I tried a few times to make things awkward between them, but sadly, they just laughed it off. They were too familiar with each other now for it to work anymore, I was disappointed to find.

Olivine City was a port town, bordering the sea both to the east and to the south. At the corner of these borders, atop a seaside cliff, stood the Olivine Lighthouse. At sunset, the bright lights at the top of the tower turned on, illuminating the sea nearby and serving as a beacon for all passing ships. Deciding to admire the view while it lasted, Tom and April sat with their backs against the lighthouse walls, accompanied by Manny and Flareon. In front of them was the bay, a vast sea punctuated by tiny island silhouettes and large landmasses to both sides. The sun made its descent to their right, giving the sky an orange tint that was reflected in the sea. Tom's eyes followed as a Gyarados jumped out of the water, and then landed back in it, near the horizon.

"Isn't it pretty?" said April as she pet her Flareon. "Not every day you get to see a view like this."

"I've never seen anything like this," said Tom. "This is the first time I've ever been outside of Kanto, and I almost never even left my hometown before now. Everything is new to me, pretty much."

A silence followed as they continued admiring the scenery. Eventually, April spoke again. "Hey, I bet we could see Goldenrod City from that other side there!" She was pointing to their left, towards an inlet of sea separating Olivine from a huge peninsula. April was right, as a short walk behind the lighthouse proved. The tall buildings of Goldenrod, though they appeared tiny, were quite visible in the middle of the peninsula. They were all lit up, it being almost night time.

"That's awesome!" said Tom. "It's _blllearkhhgmm_…." He cut his sentence short with an odd noise coming from deeper and deeper in his throat, as if he were literally swallowing his words. The cause of this was something that he had just noticed which April had yet to: behind the lighthouse, obviously unaware that anyone else had come to their private spot, a couple of teenagers were making out. Tom was familiar with one of them.

"What's wrong?" asked April, looking at Tom rather than the couple, who Tom made sure to face away from.

"Nothing," Tom said in barely more than a whisper. "Just… keep looking at Goldenrod. Yeah. Sure looks neat from here, huh?"

"I guess so," said April, sounding skeptical.

Since he was facing away from the lighthouse, Tom heard, but did not see, the commotion behind him.

"Sorry, but I've got to get going," said Jude Tutino. (April turned around briefly, but then turned right back, probably to give the two their privacy.)

"You're not going to walk me home?" asked the girl Jude was with.

"I wish I could, but there's something I've got to do right now."

"But you'll call me later, right?"

"Of course I will."

A few additional wordless gestures were exchanged, and then the girl was gone. "Ha! Sure you'll call her," said my brother, the other Ultradex. "That's what you told that other girl."

Jude ignored him. "Didn't think I'd see you here, Tom."

Pale, short of breath, Tom had no choice but to turn around. There stood Jude, who smirked that annoying smirk he was always smirking. "Hi, Jude."

"Nice to see you again. But why'd you come all the way… unless…." He looked from Tom to a confused April and back. "Ah, I see how it is. Well, congratulations, Tom! I can't really say much for your taste, but to each his own, I guess."

April was too confused to be insulted. "Um, what's going on? Tom, who's this guy?"

Tom's pulse reflected his anxiety, but his tone did not. "This is Jude, my neighbor from Pallet Town. And this is April, my _friend_."

"Sure she is. Well, at least you're not with that annoying blonde kid like last time."

Tom's pulse rose even higher for a moment, but he let it go. "Where have you been, anyways?" he asked. "I haven't seen you since the Space Pirate invasion in Goldenrod City."

Jude shrugged. "You know how it is. Getting badges, catching Pokémon, making out every once in a while. I had nothing left to do in Goldenrod, so why stay? I moved on as soon as I could and I've kept going since. I got two more badges to prove it, too. So how much have you improved?"

"Plenty," said Tom, suddenly sounding confident. "Enough to win this time."

"Oh really? That sounds interesting. Want to see if you're right?"

"That's what I was implying."

"Well, there's more room on the other side of this lighthouse, so come on." Jude, followed by Tom and April and the Pokémon, started walking around the building. "We had a three-on-three battle last time, if I remember right," Jude continued. "How about we step it up a notch this time? Does four Pokémon each sound good?"

"Yep, it does to me."

"Fine then." Both trainers stood in front of the lighthouse, with the rest of the cliff beside them to be used as the battleground. They each took out a Pokéball. "Ready, set… go, Snorlax!"

"Get 'em, Manny!"

Manny, outside of his Pokéball as usual, ran away from the two boys to give himself room. He was soon faced by an enormous mass of fat. The round giant was mostly stomach; its face and belly were white, while the rest of it was a dark greenish-blue. It stood on two short, stubby legs and had two fat arms.

"Use Low Kick!" said Tom.

"Zen Headbutt!"

The two Pokémon ran towards each other. Snorlax was so heavy he made the ground shake slightly as he ran; with Low Kick, this hugeness was an advantage for Manny. Manny easily slid under Snorlax's attacking head to kick the gigantic creature's gigantic feat. As intended, Snorlax fell backwards with a _thud_. Manny hopped backwards to distance himself from Snorlax; however, Snorlax bounced to his feet and sprinted over to Manny surprisingly quickly. Once his opponent was in front of him, Snorlax viciously rammed his head against Manny's; light flashed between the two heads as he did. The psychic-type attack had a significant effect on Manny, who got knocked several feet backwards as a result of it. Manny quickly got back up and delivered the final blow to Snorlax – another Low Kick. This time, Snorlax did not get back to his feet at all.

Jude returned his Pokémon, then sent out the next one: "Go, Haunter!"

The spiky purple ghost was beamed out of his Pokéball. Tom paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, that's enough… come back, Manny!" Tom withdrew his Machoke. "Go, Umanda!" Out came Tom's Umbreon.

"Confuse Ray!" Jude ordered.

"Dark Pulse!" yelled Tom.

Haunter outstretched one of his disembodied hands; a clear, blurry-looking ball shot out of it towards Umanda, who absorbed it. Umanda was just about to attack, but suddenly looked weary. Instead of attacking, the confused Pokémon fell to almost her knees, as if the effort had made her hurt herself.

"Night Shade!" said Jude. Tom merely watched, gritting his teeth.

Umanda staggered back and forth, trying to keep her balance, as darkness surrounded her. The moment it looked as though she had finally managed to stand steady, the Night Shade took effect, hurting her enough to bring her back down to her knees. The darkness was gone, but so was Umanda's balance.

Haunter laughed at his opponent's misfortune as he prepared his next attack. Umanda looked at him angrily as she slowly regained her posture. The next Night Shade must have hurt her just as much as the last one, but she managed to concentrate on standing still throughout it. She then produced a black aura around her, which was fired in a beam at Haunter. As he had been finishing his second Night Shade, Haunter failed to dodge Umanda's Dark Pulse, which took quite a lot out of him. Jude decided to withdraw his Haunter – but as the ghost was turning white, Tom shouted, "Quick! Use Pursuit!" Umanda had finally fully reoriented herself, so without hesitation, she bolted over to her foe and rammed into him in a streak of darkness to contrast his glowing whiteness. Haunter was beamed back into his Pokéball, but it was clear that he wouldn't be coming back out for this battle. Excitement flowed through Tom's veins, but just barely – the battle was not over, and he wasn't going to let himself think otherwise.

Wordlessly, Jude sent out a Jolteon to replace his Haunter. Umanda faced a fellow Eeveelution for the second time that day. "Thunderbolt!" he yelled.

"Sand-Attack!" said Tom.

Umanda kicked sand at Jolteon, who suddenly wasn't there. He'd run behind Umanda before the sand had time to reach him, then hit her hard with a huge flash of electricity faster than the time it took her to turn around.

"Double Kick!" said Jude. Umanda kicked more sand at her foe, but had barely sprinkled him with it before he'd jump-kicked her with both of his hind legs. Umanda slid backwards; she struggled to stand back up, but in the end, could not, and her eyes closed as her head fell to the ground.

"Come back," said Tom, withdrawing his fainted Umbreon. "You're up, Charlie!"

Tom opened Charlie's Pokéball to release him; at the same time, Jude suddenly withdrew Jolteon. "Go, Marshtomp!" he said as he, too, released his next Pokémon. Tom's first Pokémon now found himself facing Jude's first Pokémon, just as they had on the boys' first day as trainers. "Surf!" said Jude, wasting no time.

"Use Smokescreen and try to dodge it!" said Tom.

Marshtomp slammed his webbed blue palms against the ground; huge amounts of water spouted out from underneath them. Charlie blew vision-impairing smoke at his opponent, but was then forced to run away – Marshtomp now had enough water to ride on, guiding it wherever he pleased. Charlie ran to the edge of the cliff, and then ran alongside its edge. There was no avoiding the oncoming giant wave, though, and Marshtomp made sure of that. The gallons and gallons of fast-moving water actually knocked Charlie off of the cliff, sending him tumbling down its steep incline towards the sea. Knowing that his Pokémon had fainted anyways, Tom withdrew him before he reached the bottom. It had been a one-hit K.O. before even thirty seconds had passed.

"Come on out, Albert!" Tom said as he released his Kadabra.

"Surf!" said Jude.

"Use Psybeam, then Disable it!"

Knowing that he had no chance of avoiding Marshtomp's oncoming assault, Albert immediately set to using his colorful beam of rings against his foe. Marshtomp endured the Psybeam as he guided his huge wave of water to Albert, soon crashing it into him. The ensuing splash knocked Albert every which way, but he still somehow managed to keep his mind's eye set on Marshtomp's location, enough so that his invisible Disable successfully reached its target. The part of Marshtomp's brain which allowed him to know the move Surf was temporarily blocked.

"Another Psybeam!" said Tom.

"Bide!" Jude ordered.

As Albert shot forth his next set of multicolored psychic rings, Marshtomp simply stood as still as a rock. When the attack was done, Tom shouted, "Now use Reflect, and then Kinesis!"

Albert concentrated on creating a defensive barrier, and sure enough, the space between him and his opponent shined like glass for a moment. Meanwhile, Marshtomp remained completely still. That's when Albert lost his serious demeanor. Like all Kadabra, he was almost constantly holding a spoon in one hand (his right hand); he held out the arm with the spoon, and used the other hand to point to it while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. The spoon then went completely berserk, bending and wiggling in every which way; Albert mocked surprise at this, as if he had no idea it would happen. He even made a show of trying to hold back the spoon, as if it were attempting to attack him. Marshtomp finally attacked, letting loose his stored energy as he sped right towards… the spoon. Albert had tricked him into concentrating so hard on it, that was where he ended up attacking, and Albert merely had to move his arm to avoid the attack. He then shot another Psybeam, which easily hit his foe, but not for long, because Jude withdrew Marshtomp in the middle of it. Jolteon was sent back out in his place.

"Thunderbolt!" said Jude.

"Disable it, then use Psybeam!"

Both attacks worked as intended – after using Thunderbolt once, Jolteon couldn't use his powerful electrical move anymore, since Albert then disabled it. However, after just one Thunderbolt, Albert looked scratched up and a bit out of breath. Albert then tried hitting his opponent with a Psybeam, which was tricky, given Jolteon's speed, but he eventually managed to do it by noting the patterns in Jolteon's movement and then aiming for the spot where he would go next. Kadabra have enough mental skill to do that in hardly any time at all.

"Quick Attack it until it faints!" Jude ordered.

"Another Psybeam!" said Tom.

Albert was the victim of an extremely swift tackle before he had time to so much as move a muscle. Jolteon sprinted back; Albert aimed his attack; Jolteon swiftly tackled him again before he had time to use it. Albert twitched; he fell to a sitting position, twitching some more; he stopped twitching and fainted.

Things were not looking good for Tom, and he knew it. He opened his Pokéball to withdraw his Kadabra. "It's up to you, Manny," he said in an uncertain tone as he sent out his last remaining Pokémon.

When Manny appeared, Jude silently withdrew his Jolteon and then re-released Marshtomp. Both Pokémon seemed to have sustained a lot of damage. "Use Seismic Toss!" said Tom.

"Surf!" said Jude.

Manny ran towards Marshtomp, who slammed his open palms into the ground to again rise up on the ensuing spout of water. Manny looked for a way to get to his opponent, but unfortunately, found none. Then the water from Marshtomp's Surf came crashing down upon him, slamming him into the ground and restricting his breath at the same time. Tom's own breath became unsteady with worry for his Machoke. When the attack had run its course, Manny coughed up some water and then fell unconscious.

Tom withdrew his Machoke as his mood transitioned from tense to depressed. Jude did the same for his Marshtomp. "Come on, that was barely even a challenge," said Jude. "It looked like it might be at first, but then I took out all four of your Pokémon with just my last two. Seriously, you couldn't find _anyone_ in your whole team with an advantage against my Jolteon _or_ my Marshtomp?" There was that smirk again. "Maybe if you'd spent more time building up a better team instead of thinking up all those silly nicknames…."

"I think the nicknames are kind of cute," April casually remarked.

Jude looked at her. "Yeah, well, if I wanted an opinion on what's 'cute', I wouldn't go to someone wearing that bandana. Just saying."

"Whoa, _that_ was uncalled for," said a visibly offended April.

Jude shrugged. "Just the truth." He turned back to Tom. "The truth is harsh sometimes, you know. And I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but… honestly, I think you'd be better off finding another hobby. You're just not cut out to be a trainer. Sorry, but you just can't seem to judge what makes a good team. Come on, not a single ground-type or grass-type move? That's all you'd have needed! Do you even have a decent water-type, for goodness sake?"

Tom didn't answer. April spoke instead. "Hey, he's not as bad as you're making him out to be. He has four badges, you know. And as a matter of fact, you're the only person he's ever lost a battle to."

Jude shrugged again. "Badges are easy to get. And honestly, if he keeps winning battles, he must've had incredibly good luck when it comes to who he's battled against." April was visibly offended again. "You've got to feel bad for the guy," Jude continued. "He never did well with v-school, sucked at sports, had no social skills… and now this. But don't worry, Tom – I'm sure you'll find something you're good at eventually. There has to be _something_ out there you can do."

"That's not true!" Tom shouted with a boiling rage I'd only felt a couple of times before. "I _am_ a good trainer, my grades were all average, and _you_ were the only reason I could never get along with anyone!" (Apparently he had no objections to the sucking at sports bit.)

Jude rolled his eyes. "Here we go again," he said. "More of this stuff about how nobody else likes you because _I_ don't. As if I have magical powers or something stupid like that. Seriously, Tom, I'm one guy. If so many other people don't like you, maybe you should figure out what _you're_ doing wrong. I can give you a long list of things you ought to fix if you want my help."

"What do you have against Tom, anyways?" asked April, sounding more confused than troubled. "What has he ever done to you?"

"Well, he _did_ kill my pet Skitty," said Jude. "I think that qualifies." April was taken aback. "Yeah, he seems all nice and harmless now, but say one word that makes him feel bad about himself, and who knows. You could end up with a dead pet. The guy has some serious issues – like I said, I'd feel bad for him, but it's sort of hard to when he keeps blaming me for all of it and deciding that I'm some sort of mortal enemy of his."

I'd expected Tom's rage to build up even further, so I was surprised when, instead, he went stone-cold and got goose bumps. Jude shrugged once again. "Whatever. You two get busy or whatever it is you were going to do. I'm moving on. There are more badges to get out there, and honestly, this is starting to get boring." He began walking away from the lighthouse, raising one arm to wave his hand at them. "I'll probably see you later, so bye for now."

Tom watched Jude leave with an expression of disdain. When he was out of earshot, April said, "I like my bandana! Is it really that ugly?"

"Of course not," Tom answered. "Don't listen to anything he says."

"Oh. Thanks. So, um, when he said that about his Skitty… that was a lie?"

"No, it wasn't." Tom started walking towards Olivine's Pokémon Center. "Let's go get our Pokémon healed." April nodded and started off in the same direction. They spent the rest of the walk in silence, except for one point when I complained that I hadn't gotten to catch up with my brother. Frankly, though, I probably could have done that any time I wanted had I tried hard enough, what with all of my communication technology. I never really cared much for him, though. I thought he was sort of a jerk. After all, he was made to be completely identical to me in every way.

* * *

Claiming to be tired, Tom had gone to bed that night right after healing his Pokémon. However, unbeknownst to all except me, he spent several hours awake in bed before he finally fell asleep. The next morning, after waking up, he went over to a stand near Olivine Port which sold fishing rods and bought one. Then he went west, to Route 40 – a small stretch of sandy beach. He was the only person in sight outside of the city – it wasn't exactly a commercial beach. There, he released all of his Pokémon and began fishing.

It's hard to say if what followed could be accurately described as training. Tom did give his Pokémon tasks now and then, but it was more at random than organized. He also got them to battle any hostile wild Pokémon he reeled in from the sea, but that didn't happen very often. Mostly, he just sat there, fished, and let his Pokémon do as they pleased. Charlie ran around aimlessly, except for when Tom gave him somewhere to run to; Umanda mostly lay down and either slept or licked her fur; Pippa never strayed very far from her master; Ralph would sometimes train himself even when not directed to; Albert kept whoever happened to be nearby entertained. Manny, sitting beside Tom, noticed the trouble in the boy's eyes.

"What's the matter?" Manny asked. "You look upset about something." His voice had changed with his evolution – it was now much deeper, though still as inhumanly rough and still not completely mature.

"Not really," Tom replied. "Just… not feeling my best right now."

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't do so great yesterday. Man, I really wanted to show that Jude guy who's boss!" He punched the air. "Guess I'll have to train even harder from now on."

Tom shook his head. "You did great," he assured Manny. "Really. Everyone did. But…." Then he noticed something approaching him from town. Two somethings: a person and a Pokémon. "…What the…?"

April ended her fast approach with a slide in the sand; her Bayleef did the same. "Hi, Tom," she greeted.

"Hi," Tom responded. "Um, why'd you come here?"

"Why'd _I_ come here? _You're_ the one who went off to nowhere without so much as a word! I've spent the last half hour or so trying to figure out where you were!"

"Oh," said an ashamed Tom. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said April, despite having just worried about it. "No big deal. I'll have to get your number after this, though, so that doesn't happen again. Anyways, I actually went and found you 'cuz it's about time for lunch, and I was hoping we'd go back to that café for it. But I see you're fishing now, so no rush." She sat down in the sand beside him. "I'm fine with waiting however long you want."

Tom simply nodded. Bayleef walked closer to Albert, who was now juggling eighteen rocks in the air without touching them, and making pictures with them as they moved as well. Even Umanda had to perk her ears up at that one.

"I know what you've been wondering," Tom said gloomily. "I guess I might as well tell you this now. It happened about six years ago – I was eight years old. Even back then, Jude hated me and I hated him. I don't remember it ever _not_ being like that. I really don't know why. But he hated me, and I hated how he always got everyone else to join in picking on me. The other kids in town all liked him."

"What!" April exclaimed. "Why would _anyone_ like that guy?"

"You don't understand," Tom explained. "What you saw yesterday was just how he acts around me. He doesn't act that way around other people. He's a lot nicer to them. Like I said, I don't really know why. Anyways, he was making my life miserable, and I'd had enough of it. And… he had this pet Skitty that he really liked and brought around everywhere. So I… got some Pokémon treats and… found her when she was alone. I used the treats to get her to follow me… all the way to Viridian Forest, which is pretty far from home. I was going to leave her there and then watch Jude panic when he realized he'd lost her… I wanted to see Jude suffer for everything he'd done. So I dumped the bag of treats on the ground and tried to leave the Skitty behind. That's when the Raticate came."

Tom shivered a little. He spent the whole tale staring at the sand below him. "First there was one of them. It attacked the Skitty, and the two of them got into a fight. But then more Raticate came. I don't remember how many… maybe like a dozen of them. They all teamed up on her… she didn't have a chance. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there and watched. She wasn't even dead yet when they started eating her flesh. I finally ran away in panic when I saw her organs spill out. I don't know how something so little could have so much blood."

Other than the sound of crashing waves, there was silence for a minute before Tom spoke again. "You can go to lunch on your own, if you want. I know you don't want to be around me anymore." It suddenly became clear why he'd been surprised to see her again in the first place.

"That's… that's not true," said April, though she didn't sound very sure of herself. "I mean, it's not like you meant for her to die. And you regretted doing it, right?"

"Of course," Tom answered. "But is that because it was such a terrible thing to do? Or is it just because the whole thing made it that much easier for Jude to turn everyone against me?" He brought his head up slightly and looked out at the horizon. "I must not be a very good person. Jude probably has a good reason to hate…." He stopped mid-sentence; his fishing line was tugging. He set the hook and then began reeling his catch in. The fight lasted about forty-five seconds, after which he had a Horsea attached to his line on the shore. The tiny blue thing had a curled-up tail and a long, tube-like snout. It struggled to get back into the sea.

"Uh, Ralph, ThunderShock it a little," said Tom. It was the most unenthusiastic command he'd ever given. Nevertheless, Ralph obediently zapped the wild Horsea, who had trouble staying conscious after only one weak attack. Tom then threw a Great Ball at it; the Pokéball sucked its target inside before closing and falling to the ground. It shook once and then clicked, indicating that the Horsea had been caught.

Tom walked over to the Pokéball that rested above the hook of his fishing line and picked it up. "I'd been looking for something like that," he said, looking at my screen for details.

"I assume you're going to name it?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Tom. "I'll name her Kim."

"You do realize that the fact that you've clearly given this some thought doesn't do much to disprove Jude's assertion that you spend too much time thinking about those dumb nicknames, right?"

Tom didn't respond; he just put Kim's Pokéball in my slot for transferring it to Bill's P.C. "I guess that's all the fishing I was going to do."

"Cool," said April. "Look, just forget about it, okay? I don't care what happened way when you were eight. So stop worrying and let's go have some lunch."

Tom reluctantly agreed. He packed up his fishing rod and withdrew all of his Pokémon except Manny. April then made sure to change the subject, and they spent the walk to lunch talking about some dumb T.V. shows.

* * *

Tom's mood gradually improved until, by the time his lunch was in front of him, he was almost back to normal again. This was helped by the fact that he didn't immediately notice Peter Embs sitting right next to him.

"Nice weather we're having," Peter remarked. Tom was startled, and his relaxation quickly faded when he realized who had spoken.

"Yeah, it is," Tom nervously responded. Neither boy looked up from the food in front of him.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom," said April. "I'll be right back." She stood up and walked away.

Tom allowed a short, awkward silence before talking. "Peter, listen: I'm sorry I overreacted when you…."

Peter interrupted him. "No, Tom, don't apologize – you were right!"

Tom raised his eyebrows. "I was?"

"Well duh! I dunno what the hell I was thinking; I had never even heard of Metroids, but I was gonna take one around with me without making sure it was okay? I've done some stupid things before, but man, I could've gotten someone killed!"

"So… what did you do with it?"

"Well, I spent the day after I went back to Goldenrod thinking about it and not letting out the Metroid I'd caught. The morning after that I called Elm and told him about it. He was really interested in the story, and he said he'd talk with some other people about it first. He called me back later that day. Guess what, Tom? I might get to keep the Metroid after all! Elm says it should be safe as long as it acts the same as any other Pokémon."

"That's great!"

"I know! And guess what else? To make sure the Metroid's okay to use, I'm meeting up with – of all people – Samus Aran this afternoon! She's coming over to Route 40 to inspect it. That's why I'm here in Olivine right now. You'll come with me, right?"

"Of course I will!" said Tom. "Wow, I can't believe I'll get to see Samus yet again."

"I know, right? That Samus sure is hot. I take back what I said earlier; she probably isn't really a dude. Anyways, you have to hear about when I caught this Magnemite on Route 39 – no, wait, before then I got my third badge, let me tell you about _that_…."

Peter was still babbling on when April got back. "Sheesh," she said, "I come back from the bathroom and already it's like you two never argued. Boys sure act fast."

"Or maybe girls just take forever in the bathroom," Peter retorted.

* * *

On Route 40, the three kids (and Manny) watched Samus Aran's golden ship land on the beach, stirring up quite a lot of sand as it did so. Once the landing was complete, a platform at the bottom of the ship descended to the sandy ground with Samus, fully clad in her armor, standing on it. She walked toward the kids as the platform rose back into her ship.

"What is it with you three?" she asked, looking them over. "Every time something happens, there always seems to be at least one of you involved."

"I'm not really sure why either," Tom admitted.

"Hey, how come you're wearing all that armor?" Peter asked. "Isn't it safe to keep it off yet?" April rolled her eyes, probably due to the hint of disappointment in Peter's voice.

"I'm going to need it on when you release that Metroid," Samus answered.

"You're not going to hurt it, are you?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Not if I don't have to," said Samus. "And that's what we're here to find out. Everybody stand back – except for you. Peter, right?"

He nodded. "Peter Embs."

"Okay, everybody except Peter get back. _Further_ back; I don't want any accidents. There, that's enough. Alright, Peter: whenever you're ready, let the Metroid out of its Pokéball."

Peter did as Samus told him; a beam of light shot out of the Pokéball in Peter's hand before materializing into a round, floating blob with four fangs extending beneath it. Samus aimed her Arm Cannon at it as a precaution. The Metroid, however, did not make any threatening movements; it merely bobbed back and forth in the air, from Peter's right to Peter's left and back.

"It's not aggressive, and seems to know that you're its master," Samus observed. "That's a good sign. Now listen up: I need you to give the Metroid a command. Tell it to drain my energy, and when I tell you to, tell it to stop."

Peter looked uncertain, but once again, he followed Samus's orders. "Okay… Metroid, use, um, Energy Drain on that woman."

The Metroid apparently knew what had been asked of it; it stopped its aimless bobbing around, flew straight at Samus, and latched onto her helmet to suck her energy out. Samus had to resist all of her instincts and reflexes to not kill the thing immediately. "STOP!" she yelled, slightly louder than intended.

"Stop it now, Metroid!" said Peter. The Metroid stopped leeching on Samus right away and detached itself from her. Then it calmly floated back to Peter.

"Good," said Samus, quickly pulling herself together. "It follows commands. It really is no different than a captured Pokémon. And as reluctant as I am to say this, you should treat it like any other Pokémon, too."

"Really? You're actually going to let me keep it?"

"There isn't really much of a choice. You caught it in a Pokéball, so it is, technically, your Pokémon – if it really is a Pokémon, and since the Pokéball managed to catch it, it may very well be. Either way, as long as you're its master, it's safer with you than with anyone else. We could force you to hand it over to someone, to use as research – or to kill – but there's no need at this point. And as a trainer, you're in a better position to raise it to be safe around others than any scientist would be. Trust me; a bond with one of these could be useful."

"So I can keep it as part of my team then? I'll be able to use it in battles and everything?"

"It's worth a try. After all, the fact that a Pokéball recognized it would normally indicate that it is some kind of Pokémon, even if that doesn't really make any sense. But if you're going to make it fight other Pokémon, keep a couple of things in mind. One, Metroids are extremely vulnerable to cold temperatures. In other words, it's weak against ice-types." She thought for a moment. "And I suspect that they're weak against dark-types, too, though not as much so. The other thing to keep in mind is: be cautious. Make sure that it stops draining its victim the moment said victim has fainted. Otherwise the Metroid will just keep going until the poor thing gets sucked dry and dies. Wars have been fought over these creatures. Don't take yours lightly."

"Don't worry," Peter said excitedly, "I won't!"

"Good to hear. With that taken care of, I'm heading off."

"Where to?"

"Meteor Falls. I need to investigate some Space Pirate sightings there."

"But wait a moment," said April; "I thought that the Pirates that came to Pocket were all killed!"

"So did I," Samus replied. "But that was just speculation. It seems a few of them survived and have found refuge in Hoenn. Maybe if I see what they're doing there we'll all have some questions answered. Like how the hell those Metroids got here in the first place. I'll bet you anything the Space Pirates were behind that, and I intend to find out what they're up to and then put a stop to it. So… bye." With that, she walked back to her gunship, which re-lowered its platform to allow her to walk onto it and be lifted inside.

Everyone watched as the ship started its engine, straightened out its wings, and took off in a loud and sand-splattering manner. When the noise was gone, Peter was the first to speak. "Did you guys hear that? Space Pirates at Meteor Falls!"

"Yeah, and?" asked April.

"What, didn't you hear the woman? They're probably behind all that's been happening! We've all gotten too caught up in all of it to not want to know what's going on, especially now that I have this Metroid with me. I say we all go over there right now and see if we can't help Samus find some answers. And if we have to kick some Space Pirate ass while we're at it, so be it!"

"Rushing into things as always, I see," sighed April.

"What, aren't you guys with me here? Heck, you know Samus – she'll probably have already killed all of the Pirates by the time we get there." He glanced at Tom. "But I mean, if you guys think it's too dangerous, that's fine too. It was just a thought."

Tom seemed to have to struggle to get the words out of his mouth. "I'm fine with going," he said. "Even if Samus hasn't taken care of the Pirates yet, it's not anything we haven't dealt with before."

"Exactly!" Peter cheered. "We won't be in any danger we can't handle! Oh, but…." His cheery expression disappeared. "Your mom isn't going to like this, is she?"

Tom shrugged. "She doesn't have to know about it." The words came with even more struggle than before.

"I couldn't agree more!" said Peter, who was once again as excited as ever. "Come on, then – let's go!" He began running towards Olivine City.

Tom hesitated, looking at April. "Are you going to come with us?" he asked her.

"Well… I guess so. I've gotten into this mess as much as you two have, and it would kind of suck to get left behind. So, sure, why not."

"Hey, what are you guys waiting for?" Peter shouted at them from the distance he'd already run. Tom, April, and Manny quickly followed him.

Eventually, everyone caught up to Peter on the docks, where he had stopped to look at the scheduled departures on a large board. "No luck," he said; "none of these ferries are going to Hoenn for days!"

"It's not like it was that important in the first place," said April. "If Samus wanted us to come with her, she would have said so."

"Nonsense!" said Peter. "I'm going to see the end of all this stuff that's been happening once and for all! I'm the one who's gotten a Metroid out of it so I have every right to!" He ran away again, forcing the others to follow behind him despite having no knowledge of where he was going. Peter stopped to look out at every dock, large and small, only to keep running only a second later. He finally turned to run onto one relatively small dock which several fishermen had tied their boats to. Only one of these boats currently had a fisherman in it; it was larger than the other boats, but still looked like it could only seat a few people. Peter stopped his jog beside this boat, causing the fisherman to stop fiddling with his equipment and look up at him.

"Excuse me, how much would it cost to take me and my friends to Meteor Falls?" Peter asked.

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken," the man said. "This is my own private boat – not for commercial use. If you're looking to travel, the ferries are over that way." He pointed to where everyone had just run over from.

Peter put down his backpack, opened it, and reached inside. "Peter, what the hell are you doing?" whispered April.

Peter pulled a plain-looking case out of his backpack. "I'll give you 100,000 yen if you take us there," he told the fisherman. He opened the case to show off the money inside.

Now the man was interested. He leaned closer to the money, looking it over. Then a grin spread across his face. "Hell, I'm not above doing a good deed now and then. You all get in the boat. You can give me the money when we get there."

Tom and April were stunned. As the three of them climbed in – Tom had to withdraw Manny first – April asked, "Holy crap, Peter, where did you get all that money?"

Peter answered, "I played a _lot_ of Voltorb Flip."


	15. Meteor Falls

Samus could remember a time when she might have simply killed the Metroid on the spot and then told the boy to suck it up. But not anymore. She now knew full well how much devotion a Metroid could have for a human under the right circumstances – devotion of a level rivaling that which any Pokémon has for its master. After what she'd experienced on her last mission to Zebes, there was no way she could have gotten herself to harm the one she'd just encountered.

She had to shake off the memories as her ship reached Hoenn; she had a job to do. The ship landed on a grassy patch of ground just next to a wall of rock. The rock was part of a series of rocky hills which housed a large cave – Samus's destination. After exiting her ship, she walked over to the hole that served as an entrance to the caves and went through it.

Like Mt. Moon, Meteor Falls was created by the impact of many meteors over time. Unlike Mt. Moon, it has a river running through it, dividing it neatly in half; the waterfalls of this river, obviously, are what give the cave its name. Not that Samus knew or cared about any of this. Her focus here was on finding the last of the Space Pirates who had come to this planet with her – and, with luck, information on why they did so, as well as Ridley's whereabouts. She walked onward, up a staircase carved out of a slope near the entrance. At the top of the staircase she found what she was looking for.

There was, a small distance in front of her, a pit. Its edges were too smooth to be natural. In its center stood a tall mechanical structure with a drill attached to one end of it and some type of excavator on the other end. Inside the pit were two Space Pirates. At first, they didn't notice Samus's presence. One of them held a glass container with some sort of rock – a meteorite? – inside of it. The Pirate put the container into a large, metallic tube which went into the ground; the glass container fell into the metal tube and out of sight. The second Pirate then pulled a nearby lever; what sounded like an explosion beneath them followed. Having completed this task, the two Pirates looked up to notice the bounty hunter looking down at them.

The firefight began immediately. These Pirates seemed more resilient than the ones she had fought at Goldenrod City. Was their armor stronger? It did look a bit different, Samus thought, but she wasn't sure whether she was imaging this or not. Nevertheless, Samus took down the two Pirates with relative ease… only to feel a strong blow to her side. She turned around to find the source: another Pirate was stationed across the river, in a much smaller pit with smaller mining equipment. Samus didn't need to cross the river to kill it, instead managing to do so from where she stood. Before long there was one more Pirate shooting at her; this one Samus did need to cross the bridge for, as it was positioned both across the river and on higher ground. She killed it as easily as the others, and that was it. There had been four Pirates in the area, and now there were none (or, rather, none living). Samus checked the entirety of the large, cavernous room to confirm this fact. She also inspected the tube which the meteorite had fallen into. Looking down into it revealed the fact that, at one point deep down, it bent to become horizontal. Samus wondered where it led to. There was an easy way to find out. She stood on top of the tube, turned herself into a morph ball, and then fell into it.

She fell a few dozen feet before hitting the bottom. There, she found that the tube not only bent, but also forked – there were two paths opposite to each other. One of them was very short; it was filled with explosives, which explained the sound from earlier. Deciding that it was best to leave the explosives alone, Samus rolled down the opposite path. As she did, it became clear that the path was not completely horizontal, but rather, tilted slightly upward, meaning that she was rolling closer and closer to the surface.

Samus rolled on and on. She could see light at the other end of the tube. When she finally got there, she rolled out of the tube and onto the ground, which was now beneath her. She transformed back to normal and looked around. She was no longer in Meteor Falls – now she was outside in broad daylight. The tube she had just rolled through jut out of the ground at one point, forming a very small angle with it, and continued on until it simply ended. Had the meteorite been fired out of it with an explosive blast? As she thought about this, Samus looked at where the object might have been fired to. Far, far in the distance stood a volcano (it was Mt. Chimney, though she did not know its name). A cloud of smoke surrounded it at its highest point. An object fired out of the tube, going fast enough, would definitely land somewhere at or near that volcano. Should she go there now? Samus thought about it. In the end, she decided against it. For one thing, she wasn't certain if there were more Pirates in the parts of Meteor Falls she hadn't been through. Of equal importance was the possibility of finding another upgrade to her Power Suit. After all, she'd found her Missile Launcher on a Chozo statue in Mt. Moon, and Meteor Falls had a suspiciously similar look to those caves (she didn't know it then, but this was due to the fact that both were formed by falling meteors). And she saw no reason why she couldn't take her time. So Samus found another entrance to Meteor Falls nearby and set out to explore every inch of the caverns.

* * *

It was a very fast boat, but the trip to Hoenn still took slightly over an hour. The fisherman anchored beneath a small cliff on the shore of Route 115, stating that it was as close to Meteor Falls as he could take them. After the exchange of money, Tom released Manny, who helped lift each person up onto shore before jumping up there himself.

"Bye, sir!" Peter said to the fisherman. "Thanks for taking us here! And thanks for not robbing or kidnapping us or anything!"

The man gave a hearty laugh. "Kid, with that buff Machoke with you, I wasn't sure if you'd be the ones robbing me!"

Soon he'd lifted his anchor and set back off to Johto. Peter stretched his arms, looking around at the mix of grass, trees, sea, and rock on the route around him. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed. "This is great! We're really in Hoenn now! A whole new country!"

"A whole new _region_," April corrected him. "We're still in the same province, and Pocket doesn't even have countries."

"Yeah, you know who cares? Nobody, that's who. Hey, look at that!" Peter's legs took off as soon as his mouth stopped.

April rolled her eyes. "That was fast," she muttered as she, Tom, and Manny ran behind Peter.

It turned out that the thing Peter had noticed and run over to was Samus's gunship, which was parked on the grass. "Look!" said Peter. "This means that Samus is still here! And there's Meteor Falls!" He was pointing to the entrance in the rocky hillside. "Do you think there are still any Pirates left in there?"

"We should be prepared for it just in case," said Tom. "Let's take out all of our Pokémon." So they did: Tom released Charlie, Pippa, Ralph, Albert, and Umanda; April released Bayleef, Pachirisu, Flareon, and Sudowoodo; and Peter released Grotle, Graveler (who was once his Geodude), Vaporeon (who was once his Eevee), Mankey, the Metroid, and his new Magnemite. Surrounded by their Pokémon, the three trainers entered the cave.

At first, nothing happened. The three humans and their many Pokémon slowly walked forward through the dark cave, looking all around them as they went. Before long they'd found a large pit with some mining equipment set up in it. There were also two dead Space Pirates in there. This fascinated them, of course, and they were still looking at the bodies when they heard a noise on the other side of the river. Over there, near a bridge connecting the room's two halves, was another entrance to the cave. And there were Space Pirates coming through that entrance.

They looked slightly different than the dead bodies in the pit: they were slightly larger, with thicker armor that was gold and silver instead of blue and yellow. But there was no doubt that they were Space Pirates, enough so that their sight alone put Tom in his battle-ready state of mind. "Ralph, Thunderbolt 'em. Charlie, use Smokescreen. Manny, stay nearby to keep me safe. Umanda…." Tom went on reciting commands, speaking quiet enough to keep the Pirates from attacking immediately but loud enough to attract their attention. It didn't take long for them to realize what was going on, though, and the moment they did, the battle began.

Peter followed Tom in giving his Pokémon their orders. Soon, the space above the river was plagued with gunfire, Flamethrowers, Thunderbolts, Dark Pulses, and an assortment of other projectile attacks as the Pokémon on one side battled the Pirates across the water. April just stood there with a look of pure horror on her face. Three of the Pirates jumped across the river, landing nearest to April and her Pokémon. April panicked. "Um, Sudowoodo, use, um, uh…." As her Pokémon waited for the commands that never came, the Pirates opened fire on them. She had to withdraw her Sudowoodo and Flareon before Charlie and Grotle, on Tom and Peter's respective orders, jumped in to take over. Then the three Pirates were assaulted with a barrage of missiles from above.

"_What are you DOING here?_"

Samus Aran finished off the three Space Pirates near April. Her suit was now back to being red and orange with rounded shoulders. The Varia Suit – in the arms of a Chozo statue – was the one useful thing she'd come across throughout her tedious search of Meteor Falls. This was the first time since her arrival there that she'd encountered Space Pirates.

"I don't know!" Peter responded. "They just came in here a minute ago!"

"Not the Pirates, YOU!" Nobody responded this time.

Samus joined the fight against the seven remaining Pirates across the river, though some had gotten much closer to them on the bridge as well. Samus realized that these were not the same Pirates she had fought before. In fact, these were not the same Pirates she had come to Pocket with on the meteor. Something was very wrong here.

Now Pippa and Ralph were out of the battle, as were Mankey, Graveler, and Vaporeon. The same was true of nearly all of April's Pokémon, whose master was too struck with fear and revulsion from the Pirates to ever give them an order. There were four Pirates remaining, one of which had a Metroid latched onto its head. Basically, it looked like this set of Pirates was about to go down. That's when two more of them arrived.

Only Samus would have immediately recognized them as Space Pirates, as they had only a passing resemblance to the other Pirates in the room. They were much, much bigger than the others – in fact, they had to smash the rocks near the entrance to expand it in order to fit through. They were incredibly bulky, and except for their blue shoulders, almost entirely covered in black armor. Charlie, Umanda, and Magnemite were all ordered to shift their attention to the newcomers. The giants quickly took these Pokémon out, shooting them with blue ammo from their immense cannons. They then turned their fire towards Samus, who narrowly dodged it. She glanced at the rock wall behind her to see the blue, radioactive substance it had been hit with. It was impossible, she thought, yet there it was: Phazon. Something was very, very wrong here.

"You kids get out of here!" Samus shouted. "NOW!"

Peter protested. "But we're doing fine…."

"_GET OUT!_"

Tom took the lead, beckoning his Pokémon to come with him as he and April ran towards the opening they had come in through. Peter grudgingly followed, taking his two remaining Pokémon with him.

Now Samus had five Pirates to face alone, including the two gigantic ones. First thing was first: she fired charged beams and missiles at the three regular-sized ones until they were completely dead. They had all been weakened from the fight, so this was not too difficult. Next came the other two. They seemed to be some variation of the Elite Pirates Samus had fought on Tallon IV. Whatever the case, they had definitely been enhanced by Phazon, and they were definitely using it in their weapons. Samus dodged their cannon fire, as well as their ground-pounding shockwave attack, as much as she could as she fired super missiles at their only weak points – their shoulders. It took a while, and Samus's armor took some heavy blows in that time, but she eventually managed to eliminate both monsters.

* * *

Tom, Peter, and April sat facing each other near Samus's gunship. Manny and Albert sat near Tom, while Grotle and the Metroid stuck by Peter. Bayleef, the only member of April's team to not have fainted while protecting her, was near her master as well. She warmly nudged her head against April, who still looked highly upset.

"So now what?" asked Peter.

"I don't know," Tom admitted. They looked toward Meteor Falls, but could neither see nor hear the battle inside from where they sat.

"Well, I'm staying here in case Samus needs us," said Peter. "Not that April can do anything to help."

"I'm SORRY, okay?" April said frantically. "It's just… those Pirates, they give me the creeps! They're just so… freaky…." She shuddered. Bayleef made a _coo_ noise and licked her.

"Don't worry about it," said Tom. "You just got scared. Seeing as there were aliens shooting at us in there, I can understand why."

"_You_ never got too scared to fight," April pointed out. Tom had no response to this.

"Hey," said Peter, "is it just me, or is my Metroid a little bigger than it was before?" The Metroid was bobbing around in front of him, contentedly squeaking.

He was right. "They grow as they gain energy," I informed him. "The energy it sucked out of the Pirates must have done it."

Just then, the Metroid hovered down to the ground. Then it began glowing white. Something cracked; a broken shell of a Metroid membrane stopped glowing, but the rest of it was still pure light. It rose up, out of the shell, before the glow faded to reveal its new form. The fangs were no longer there – instead, its underside was completely rounded, though its top no longer was. The gel-like ball of its body sat beneath a mass of claws and horns sticking out of a large, plated grey shell. The shell had two large, black eyes.

"Whoa!" said Peter. "It evolved!" He took out his Pokédex and looked at it. "Um, what did it evolve into?"

"An Alpha Metroid," I told him, getting tired of being their living encyclopedia. "The second phase of one particular Metroid life cycle."

The usefulness of my presence once again went unnoted, as it was then that Samus Aran emerged from the cave. Understandably, the first thing she noticed was the Metroid. "Is… is that your Metroid?" she asked, pointing her Arm Cannon at it.

"It is," Peter answered. "It evolved into, uh, an Alpaca Metroid!"

"_Alpha_ Metroid," Samus corrected him before I had the chance to. "…Interesting. But forget about that for a moment. What the heck did you all come here for?"

"We wanted to help!" said Peter. "I mean, each of us has been given a lot of trouble by the Space Pirates, and now I have this Metroid with me and I don't even know why, and we already knew our Pokémon could handle the Pirates, so the least we could do was help you finish them off!"

"Sorry about this, kid," said Samus, "but from here on out I can't let any of you come with me. The Pirates in there were not the ones you've battled against before – they were much tougher. They shouldn't even be on this planet. I have no idea what's going on, and the situation is spinning out of control; I can't bring any teenage amateur trainers into that kind of uncertainty. I'm not going to be the one responsible for your deaths." She walked towards her ship. "If I find any information on the Metroids that came here, I'll personally make sure that you hear about it. Until then, your involvement in this affair is over. Be happy about it – there's one less cause of near-death experiences to worry about." On that note, she entered her ship, fired it up, and flew away.


	16. Mt Chimney

Mt. Chimney is aptly named, as soot rises in large quantities from its volcanic peak, accumulating to form a dark cloud of soot above the mountain. Samus circled around the concealed peak in her gunship several times before concluding that she'd have to land somewhere nearby the volcano and then climb it from there. She realized, with increasing worry, that the soot cloud probably obscured the vision of any satellites scanning the area. There was no telling what was waiting under it.

Samus landed and parked her ship on Route 112, just to Mt. Chimney's southeast. From there, the ascent up the mountain proved to not be very difficult. To get there faster, she simply jumped from one patch of flat land to a higher patch of flat land on the steep, rocky mountainside. It got hotter and hotter as she climbed, making her feel increasingly fortunate that she'd just found the heat-resistant Varia upgrade to her Power Suit.

Finally, she arrived at the peak. The rocky surface there formed a circle around the volcano's pit. Though the thick black cloud was just above her, she could see the area around her just fine. But there was only one thing she focused her eyes on at that moment; one thing, above all else, that drew her attention.

"You," she simply stated. Pure loathing flowed through her veins.

The red, winged creature screeched in laughter. "Me? Are you sure we're familiar?"

"This is no time for joking around, Ridley. This time, I'll make sure you stay dead after I kill you."

"But why do you assume that I am 'Ridley'? Might I not be some other Space Dragon?"

"I told you to stop fooling around, you scum. You're the last of your kind and you know it."

He laughed again. "So I am," he said. "Still, I'm disappointed that you recognized me so quickly, what with my new body. And here I thought it made me that much handsomer."

Samus neither knew nor cared about her nemesis's new body. "You're every bit as hideous as the day we met. The day you killed my parents."

Ridley found this particularly funny, letting out a glass-shatteringly high-pitched laugh. "My, still upset about that, are you? But one would think we'd be equal after what you did to me on Zebes. And then on Tallon IV. And then on the Pirate Homeworld. And then on Zebes again." He snarled, and fire blew out of his long snout. Suddenly he wasn't so cheery.

"Don't forget the Bottle Ship," added Samus. "And the B.S.L Research Station. But I suppose you wouldn't remember those incidents, as they only involved clones of you. Not that you should remember anything else you mentioned – or even be alive at all."

Ridley chuckled a little. "Curious about that, are you? Let's just say that the mind doesn't necessarily need the body to live on. Not if it's uploaded to the right place."

Samus was going to ask what he was talking about, but she stopped herself. She knew exactly what Ridley was talking about. She'd seen it happen before herself. Adam Malkovich hadn't always been a computer. He was once a commander in the Galactic Federation Army and a celebrated military genius… until he sacrificed his life aboard the Bottle Ship to eliminate a group of genetically enhanced Metroids. Only later did Samus learn that the minds of great leaders were often uploaded to computers. And to the Space Pirates, at least, Ridley had certainly been a great leader.

"But if you're wondering where I got this shiny new body," Ridley continued, "then you'll just have to keep wondering."

"I don't care," said Samus. "I'm going to kill you anyway." She finally couldn't take the chattering any longer and fired two missiles at Ridley, who took to the air to dodge them. Then he shot a barrage of fireballs from his mouth at Samus, who narrowly dodged those. Ridley landed on the ground. He looked ready to pounce; Samus was ready to dodge….

"STOP!"

Keeping a close watch on Ridley, Samus turned slightly to see who had spoken with the corner of her eye. It was someone – or rather, something – humanoid, and whitish with a purple tint in color. It also had a long, light-purple tail. "Back away," said the creature. "I will take care of the Hunter."

Samus wondered whether this newcomer was ignorant or just stupid. Nobody talked down to Ridley like that without facing brutal consequences. So she knew that something wasn't right when Ridley not only followed this creature's order, but also bowed down to it as he did so.

Now Samus paid closer attention to the humanoid creature. "Who are you?" she asked; but even as she did, she was already scanning it. Her Logbook came up with information from the Pokédex:

MEWTWO

A Pokémon created in a lab from the DNA of a Mew. It escaped from the lab. Nothing else is currently known.

"I am Mewtwo," it – or rather, as it spoke (telepathically) in a male voice, he – said, "leader of the Space Pirates. And you, Hunter, have finally met your end."

He raised one three-fingered hand and snapped it forward. A blue beam of what was undeniably Phazon shot forth from it. Samus ran from the beam, but Mewtwo followed her with it until it made contact. The Phazon continued to flow forth, eating away at Samus's armor while simultaneously pushing her down with such an intense force that she became pinned to the ground. Samus jumped back to her feet once the beam disappeared. A bluish aura surrounded Mewtwo.

"I destroyed Phaaze years ago," Samus stated. "That couldn't possibly have been Phazon."

"Ha!" said Mewtwo. "Is that what you think?" He created and then motionlessly threw a ball of the radioactive fluid at her; it was too fast for Samus to dodge. She retaliated by firing a series of missiles at Mewtwo… all of which crumbled apart just before reaching him. Super missiles did no better. She then shot her beam weapons instead; the beams were all stopped in their path by small Phazon barriers which popped into existence just in time. As Samus switched between her beams and shot at Mewtwo from every angle, Mewtwo – who hadn't moved a muscle since his last attack – spoke.

"You know _nothing_, Hunter. You have no idea how irrelevant you've become. The forces that will lead us to victory are already in motion, and nothing can be done to stop them. The entire universe will soon be mine; you are little more than a bug to swat around to pass the time until then."

"Will you shut up and _fight_?" Samus was extremely frustrated that she hadn't managed to hit Mewtwo with a single shot yet.

"I wouldn't be so eager if I were you," said Mewtwo. "The sooner I shut up, the sooner you die." As if to prove his point, he then took hold of Samus with an extremely powerful telekinetic force. Samus struggled to escape the move, but it was as if she were encased in stone; the force exerted by Mewtwo's mind was too great for her own body to overpower. Mewtwo created a very thick rope of Phazon out of nowhere; the end that Mewtwo wasn't holding flew over to Samus and wrapped itself around her. Mewtwo then whipped the rope through the air, dragging Samus upward in an arc, and then down, with great speed, into the rocky ground. He did this three more times; Samus could do nothing as she painfully felt her suit take more and more damage from each crash. After the fourth crash, which left Samus lying on her stomach, she noticed that there were Space Pirates across a small section of the pit of lava from her. There were also other things there – they looked like the glass container used for the rock back in Meteor Falls. She didn't get to see much, though, since Mewtwo then dragged her over to his feet.

Thinking fast, Samus turned into a Morph Ball and planted a bomb. Weak though her bombs may have been, it was the only thing she had yet to try against Mewtwo, and she was sure he must have some weakness. But the bomb merely fell apart in much the same way that her missiles had. "Getting desperate, are we?" said Mewtwo. He then blasted her with an attack that used some mix of psychic and Phazon energy. It knocked Samus back so hard that she actually exited her Morph Ball mode without intentionally doing so. This was immediately followed by a shower of tiny bits of Phazon hacking at her armor.

Now a message was flashing, in red, on Samus's visor: WARNING: LOW ENERGY. She couldn't take much more damage. She stood up – finding it unusually hard to do so – and faced her opponent. Rarely, if at all, had she ever been so thoroughly overpowered.

"After all you've been through," said Mewtwo, "after all of your victories and triumphs, in the end you will die right here without so much as bruising me. And when the new universe begins, nothing you ever did will be of even minor importance. I shall be unbeatable, and the Pirates, unstoppable… and you will just be a fool who tried, and failed miserably, to prevent it from happening."

Samus didn't know which was worse – Mewtwo's annoying rants or the fact that it proved he was only toying with her. He clearly was dragging out the fight, either to let the superiority of his strength really sink in or to allow him more time to rant. Or, more likely, both.

Mewtwo hit her with the psychic/Phazon blast again, bringing her back down to the ground, lying on her back. Her armor was disappearing; she had to struggle to keep it from receding into her Zero Suit altogether, though she failed to do this for her helmet and shoulders. She tried to get up, but the psychic force Mewtwo was exerting was like a heavy weight pushing down on her.

"But look at the bright side," Mewtwo continued. "At least you'll die before having to watch your beloved universe descend into unending strife and utter chaos. Oh, I can hardly wait… but in the meantime, I hope that whoever my next challenger is puts up a better fight than you did." He walked over to Samus and looked down at her. "You weren't a real challenge at all. How disappointing." He held his arms up, and above them, a massive ball of Phazon grew into being.

"Good-bye, Samus Aran. If it's any consolation, the news of your death will bring happiness to many beings." He threw the huge Phazon ball at Samus's weak, powerless body.

What does dying feel like? Does it feel like being picked up from the scene of death and flying away? Samus wondered this until she realized that, no, that's just what actually happened. Mewtwo's attack had been a fraction of a second too late and hit the ground instead. Now she was flying away from the scene, fast, and Mt. Chimney was no more than a silhouette behind her.

Suddenly she was being lifted; only then did she realize that she had been held in a pair of claws. After a disorienting second, she found herself riding on top of whatever had grabbed her. It was surprisingly large and fat, considering how fast it flew, and its scaly body was almost completely orange. Samus saw that there was someone else riding it in front of her. Someone with gray hair and a lab coat. The man turned his face to look at Samus.

"_Professor Oak?"_

He smiled at her. "I figured you might need a lift."

There was a screeching noise from behind them. Samus turned her head to see something very peculiar: Ridley was flying in chase of them… and Mewtwo was riding him. Samus had never seen anyone ride Ridley before. For a moment, she wondered if she really was still conscious.

Ridley spat a fireball at Samus's ride, which swerved sideways to dodge it. "Hold on tight," Oak told Samus. "Dragonite, use ExtremeSpeed!"

Samus was fortunate to have followed Oak's advice, for the Dragonite they were riding suddenly accelerated to a speed multiple times faster than before. The world below them became a blur as they zipped through the air. It was still obvious, though, when they started flying over the ocean, since at that moment everything beneath them became blue. And then there was the screech again. Ridley had caught up.

"I don't believe it!" said Oak. "We still haven't lost them?"

Ridley spat out more fireballs, all of which the Dragonite swerved to dodge. Meanwhile, Samus, with enormous difficulty, managed to gather up enough internal energy to restore her Power Suit back to normal. Granted, it would now completely fall apart with even the tiniest scratch, but it was all she could hope for.

Samus had made her decision. "It's me they're after, not you," she said. Then she jumped off of the Dragonite and fell towards the sea.

Upon crashing through the water, Samus immediately became a Morph Ball. She continued slowly falling – agonizingly slowly – until finally reaching the ocean floor. The ocean floor was not flat – there were rock structures and crevices everywhere. Samus found a shallow hole, partially covered by a rock, to roll into and hide in. This turned out to be a smart move, as Mewtwo came crashing down into the ocean barely a second later.

The psychic Pokémon looked around in the water; Samus could just barely see him from under the rock. The next few minutes – though for Samus, it felt much longer – were spent waiting as Mewtwo continued his search. Finally, he spoke. "You are not worth the trouble of finding, Hunter. But it hardly matters; we will meet again, I assure you. And next time, there will be nobody to save you. Farewell." And just like that, he disappeared, literally vanishing on the spot.

Samus wasn't convinced that it wasn't a trap. She continued hiding in her hole for the better part of the next hour, worrying that Mewtwo might still find her if she rolled out. When she finally decided she had waited long enough, she rolled out and transformed out of her Morph Ball form. Although she could see nothing but ocean around her, she remembered which direction she had come from and used that memory to start walking towards land.

The walk was very, very slow, thanks to her Power Suit. Without her Gravity Suit, it was extremely difficult to move with it on underwater. Of course, without it on she'd succumb to water pressure and wouldn't be able to breathe. So she walked. For what she estimated to be two hours, she walked and walked without getting very far.

Then there was a Pokémon in front of her. A blue, bipedal Pokémon. Samus recognized it as the Poliwrath she'd seen in the lab at the Ruins of Alph; it seemed to recognize her as well. It turned around and pointed at its shoulders, indicating that she grab onto them. Samus did so, and a moment later she found herself traveling through the water with much greater speed.

* * *

Eventually, the Poliwrath brought Samus to shore. It was practically night time when she got there. Waiting on the sandy beach was Professor Oak, who stood next to his Dragonite. Samus thanked him for saving her life. "All in a day's work" was his response. He asked that they move "elsewhere" before talking. Samus agreed; Oak put the Poliwrath back into its Pokéball; the two of them got onto the Dragonite, who flew away.

The flight was mostly along the shoreline, and remained relatively close to the ground. It didn't take too long – the destination, it turned out, was Professor Birch's laboratory, which apparently hadn't been very far away.

* * *

At the lab, Samus and Professor Oak recalled their experiences that day, with Professor Birch sitting by to listen in (and provide Samus with a late dinner).

Oak's story was fairly short. "We could see from satellite images that your ship was moving from Meteor Falls to Mt. Chimney. Obviously, this wasn't the location you'd been assigned to, so we knew that something odd was afoot. I came over with my Dragonite to see what was going on and to help you out if the opportunity arose. We watched you fight Mewtwo in secrecy until it became clear that you were in trouble; that's when we decided to take you out of there. As it turned out, going there with Dragonite was an even smarter move than I'd realized."

"I still can't believe it, though," Professor Birch lamented. "Using the cloud of soot above Mt. Chimney to avoid detection – it's just so obvious, how did we not think of it?"

"Things always seem obvious in retrospect," Oak reassured him. "But we only make that judgment because we already know."

Samus soon found herself recalling the long tale of that day's events. It didn't take long for the first question to come. She had only gotten to the evolution of Peter's Metroid when Birch asked, "But don't Metroids only grow into their Alpha stage under certain conditions?"

"Theoretically," said Samus. "I think the Pirates must have already exposed them to the radiation found on SR388, locking them into that life cycle. Assuming that the Pirates are responsible for the Metroids being here, of course." There was no more need to discuss how the Metroids had gotten there, since they had already done so plenty to no avail.

Curiosities were raised again at the appearance of the "new" Space Pirates. "They couldn't have brought a teleporter with them, could they have?" asked Oak.

"No," said Samus. "Their ship was too small and crowded – and I would have noticed if there was one aboard. And I even checked its interior after it crashed in the mountains – there was nowhere they could have put any kind of teleportation device. Not to mention the fact that it would have been destroyed in the crash even if there was one there."

Samus told the rest of her story. Nobody had an explanation for Phazon's comeback, or for what the Pirates were doing with the rocks/meteorites they had mined. Still, the most urgent question was that of the Space Pirates' new arrivals. If they were coming to Pocket undetected, there was no telling how many there were now – or, even worse, how many were still to come. They could kill every last Space Pirate on the planet, yet the possibility of more coming to replace them would still remain.

During a short silence, Oak and Birch looked at each other and nodded in apparent understanding. Then Oak changed the subject. "There's another reason why I brought you here, Samus," he said. "Do you remember the box you gave us a couple nights ago?"

Samus almost laughed. "You mean the box I had to blast through a ship full of hostile ghosts to get? Yeah, I remember."

"Well, its contents have been inspected and approved for your viewing. It's still top-secret, mind you, but considering all the trouble you went through to get it, you at least deserve to know what you got."

"Great," said Samus. "I've been wondering what the big deal was about."

"Follow me, then," said Birch. "We've kept it in the basement here."

The three of them stood up. "I must warn you," said Oak, "you may be disturbed by what you're about to see."

Once again, Samus had to restrain a laugh. "I've seen a lot of really disturbing stuff in my life, Professor," she said. "By now I think I've become immune to it."

* * *

The basement of Birch's lab wasn't particularly well-lit; luckily, the brightest lights were gathered at the place where Samus was led to. There were many desks and computers gathered there as well. And on one of those desks sat a very familiar silver box. Only this time, it was open at the top.

"This isn't everything we found in there," said Oak. "We only left in what we felt would be of the most interest to you."

Samus looked down into the box. She was expecting something disgusting or shocking; instead, she only saw a lot of small plastic rectangles of various sized and shapes. They had colorful paper labels on them. Cautiously, Samus reached in and picked one of the pieces of plastic up. She looked at the words in the middle of the label; they were written in an ancient language and in an ancient alphabet. She could actually read the first word on her own – the Standard alphabet is heavily rooted in the Latin one. Scanning these words confirmed this first word and gave her the second; the full label read "METROID FUSION".

"Unfortunately, we only got the cartridges without anything to plug them into," said Birch, who was sitting at a computer. "But it wasn't too hard to extract the data in them. Check it out," he said, pointing to the screen. Samus looked on the screen to see… herself. Sort of. It was a two-dimensional representation of what could only be her wearing her Power Suit. The Samus on the screen was jumping around and shooting things. "This one's called 'Metroid: Zero Mission'," Birch explained. "I'm playing as you on your first solo mission to Zebes. You know, the one that made you famous."

"They're video games," explained Oak, who was sitting at another computer. "Games where you control something on a screen to reach an ultimate goal. Take a look." Samus looked at his screen. "It's me," said Oak. Indeed, the image on the screen resembled the man sitting in front of it, though it was extremely pixelated and not very detailed. "This is the beginning of 'Pokémon FireRed Version', which chronicles the adventures of Red as he defeats Team Rocket and becomes the Pokémon League Champion."

"I don't understand," said Samus. "What is this? What does it mean?"

That's when the two men looked even more serious than before. "Show her, Birch," said Oak.

"Samus," said Birch, "look at this game's title screen." Samus went back to Birch's computer, which, sure enough, showed a still screen with a large title in the middle. Birch pointed not to the title, but to a line of text underneath it. "This is the year the game was made."

The alphabet on the screen may have been outdated, but modern numerals were mostly unchanged from ancient ones. The number that Birch was pointing to read, simply, "2004".

"That's A.D.," said Oak, "not Galactic Years."

And then the full effect of this information sank in. "Three thousand years ago," said Samus. "Someone made a game about my mission to Zebes almost three thousand years before it happened."

"That's correct," said Oak. "And not just that; there are games here about your mission to SR-388, your most recent visit to Zebes, even your experience on the B.S.L. Research Station – and everything in between. That's not all, either. There are plenty of games, such as the one I showed you, which take place on Pocket; others involve real-life incidents in Hyrule, the Mushroom World, and a number of other places. All of the games were made thousands of years before the events they portray; all were made back when humans lived only on Earth. During the early space exploration age, Ludus became the thriving center of the video game industry. The box that you found there was full of older games made by a company called Nintendo, which sought to preserve some of its classics. You can see how well the preservation worked – the entire city the box was in may have been destroyed by time, but the box remained intact, as did the games inside of it."

Samus's mind was racing. "Are these… prophecies? Someone saw the future, and made games about it?"

"That's one possible explanation," said Birch. "But, uh, we don't think it's very likely. In fact, even before we found these, we had reason to believe that the cause and effect are the other way around."

"What?"

"You know, with the cause being the games and the effect being that the things in the games happen in real life. Somehow."

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

"Samus," said Oak, "consider the Unown you encountered earlier. They were here long before humans arrived on Pocket, yet they resemble a once-widely-used human alphabet with uncanny accuracy. Consider another thing: many species of Pokémon make noises resembling their own species' name; sometimes, however, this name sounds extremely similar to words from old human languages. Squirtle, for example, looks so much like Earth turtles that it's already an odd coincidence, but the fact that it makes a noise that sounds like "Squirtle", a mix of the English words for "squirt" and "turtle", makes it even more so. Those are just two examples among many, many others. Some coincidences are too great to be nothing more than that… and now we have proof that they aren't."

"But those are just creatures," said Samus, "not actual events. Remember the last piece of Chozo lore I found? They mentioned Earth, and something about making Pocket resemble it… they could be behind the Pokémon here being like the ones in the games. I see how physical things from the games could, for whatever reason, be brought into reality. But are you really telling me that real actions by real people happened… because they were in some kids' games three thousand years ago? That all of my missions – everything that happened to me in them and everything that I did in them – hell, and my entire _life_ – went the way they did… because of these old playthings?"

And yet even as Samus asked this, the idea was making more and more sense to her. All of her missions had had a certain progression that almost felt… designed. There was always a reason for her to collect more and more upgrades and powers as the mission went on, and always more reason to use these powers right after obtaining them. She only encountered her most powerful foes later on, when she just happened to be better-equipped to fight them. Everything was in just the right place for her to proceed all the way to her destination. Looking back in retrospect, these missions seemed like they could have been part of a game. If she hadn't been one wrong move away from death at any moment, they might have even been fun.

"Based on the information we have, it's by far the likeliest possibility," said Oak. "That's not to say that we know for sure. In fact, there really isn't much that we do know, even after obtaining these cartridges... we thought that they would answer our questions, but instead, they've only brought up more of them."

Nobody spoke for a minute. Samus, with wide eyes, didn't look away from the screen in front of Professor Birch. "You can play this if you want," Birch told her. "Want to give it a shot?"

"No thanks," said Samus. "I've seen enough."

Samus Aran had fought some of the most grotesque, dangerous creatures in the galaxy. She'd come extremely close to death many times – including once that very day – and had been through more than most people combined have. She'd seen things five times more horrifying than what most people ever see. Yet she couldn't remember anything disturbing her as much as those little pieces of plastic did.


	17. Petalburg City

"Well, that was anticlimactic," said Peter. I was surprised he could string a word that long together.

"Well what did you expect?" asked April. "Were we going to save the planet and put an end to the whole Pirate problem ourselves just because we heard Samus Aran make an off-hand comment about where she was going?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Peter. "That was sort of the plan."

"So you wasted 100,000 yen in some stupid attempt to be a hero that you never spent two consecutive seconds thinking about?"

"Oh, you're just mad that you were too scared in there to do anything."

If she wasn't mad before, she really was now. "You have GOT to be kidding me! Just because… has nothing to do with… you act like a normal person should be able to _slaughter_ so many creatures without so much as batting an eyelash!" She stopped there, which was good, because Tom had a hurt look on his face (this is probably why she stopped). "…Forget it. Uh, anyways, what're we going to do now?"

"Not let my money go to waste, that's what," said Peter. "We're in Hoenn now, so that's where we'll be staying!"

"Okay, but _where_ in Hoenn?"

"Petalburg City isn't that far away," said Tom, looking at the information on my screen. "We just have to go south through Rustboro City and then through Route 104, which includes the Petalburg Woods, and we're there. That's where this region's fifth badge is. You have four badges now, right, April?"

"Uh, no," said April. "I had been training to get my fourth before we got here."

"Oh," said Tom. "Well, the fourth badge is in Lavaridge, which we'd have to go the opposite direction to get to. It's not close, either…." His face expressed worry as he looked at the map.

April sighed. "You know what? Don't worry about it," she said. "Actually, I don't really need to collect badges at all right now. They're not going anywhere, and I'm not in a hurry to get them."

"Seriously?" said Tom. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," April replied. "Let's go to Petalburg. You're the one competing with someone else to get the badges and stuff, so you might as well keep at it. Peter and I will tag along and train; that way we'll be prepared to get the rest of our badges later."

"Hey, speak for yourself!" said Peter.

"What?" said April. "So you've decided against what you said back in Goldenrod?"

"No, I'm still fine with putting the whole badge-collecting thing on pause. I just meant that you should speak for yourself, you know, in general."

* * *

The three of them got their Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center in Rustboro City. They weren't entirely sure about what to do afterwards.

"There's probably enough time to get to Petalburg before sunset," said Tom. "Should we go for it?"

"Depends," said Peter. "What's there to do in Rustboro? No point in passing anything up while we're here."

"Let's see…." Tom flipped through the catalogue on my screen. "…There's the headquarters of the Devon Corporation."

"Anything interesting to do there?"

"…No, not really. There's a gym here, too… but it's the first one in the region, and we all got our first badge from Brock. Hm… that's pretty much it, really."

"Then it's settled!" said Peter. "We're off to Petalburg!"

"You sure?" asked Tom. "We'll have to go through Petalburg Woods first…." But Peter was already at the door.

"Come on, let's go!" said Peter, ignoring Tom's question. He rushed out the Pokémon Center door.

"I say we let him go and leave for somewhere else before he comes back for us," said April.

Tom chuckled. "Sorry about this," he said as he headed to the door.

"It was worth a try," April mumbled.

* * *

They rode their bikes down to Route 104, and for a while they kept going, along a dirt path through the grass and across a wooden bridge over an isolated lake. They cycled next to Petalburg Woods, getting closer to the path leading into it; beyond this entrance was a large building: the Pretty Petal Flower Shop. Tom insisted that they make a stop there. He quelled Peter's protests by noting that they do sell things other than flowers. Most importantly, the berries they sold there turned out to be exactly the kind of thing Tom needed – he noted that he'd already decided that his Pokémon needed some hold items for battles.

With that out of the way, they got back on their bikes and rode into the Petalburg Woods. It was a bit like Viridian Forest, though not as large. That, combined with the fact that it was a downhill ride and the lack of wild Pokémon in their path, made the trip through the forest relatively short.

After emerging from the dark cover of the woods, the three of them continued riding their bikes through the rest of Route 104. Only when Petalburg City was within sight did they get off of their bikes and pack them up.

"See?" said Peter. "I told you we'd get here before sunset."

"That was Tom who said that," noted April.

"_Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh_," mimicked Peter with the same intonations.

"Oh, good comeback," I sneered. "I don't know how she can respond to that one."

"Ignoring him is always a good way to go," said April.

"Man, it sure is hot in Hoenn," said Peter, completely changing the subject. He was wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I'm going to have to start wearing shorts from now on."

"Good call!" said a boy who happened to be walking by in the opposite direction. "Shorts are comfy and easy to wear!" He then walked away.

"Well," said Peter, "that was weird."

* * *

The first thing they did, upon getting to Petalburg City, was to visit its Pokémon Center and eat. Their Pokémon ate as well in the center's reserved Pokémon pen; Peter's Alpha Metroid drew a lot of odd looks from the other trainers in the room. They were lucky it wasn't in its original form anymore or else there may have been a riot.

"I've decided to call him Jeffrey!" Peter said at one point.

Tom and April gave him the same sort of odd look that "Jeffrey" had been drawing from strangers. "What?" they both asked at the same time.

"Well, 'Metroid' isn't a very nice name to begin with," Peter explained, "and there's no way I'm going to call him 'Alpha Metroid'. So I gave him a nickname."

"But, uh, why 'Jeffrey'?" asked Tom.

Peter shrugged. "Just the first name that came to my mind."

Tom finished eating before the other two. This turned out to be intentional – there was something he had to do. He went over to the Pokémon pen and called Pippa, who hopped behind him until they reached the PC. He looked down at her. "Pippa… remember when I had to replace Buddy for the good of the team? He did a really great job, and so did you, but… well, you've done enough for now. I'm going to have to put you in Bill's care for a while." The Pidgeotto seemed to know what was going on; she gave out a mournful, low-pitched tweet and hopped closer to Tom. He kneeled down to pet her. "Sorry about this," he said as he took out her Pokéball. Upon seeing the Pokéball, Pippa gave out another mournful tweet and nudged her head against Tom's knee. "Bye," he said, and there was some water in the corners of his eyes as he opened the Pokéball and beamed Pippa inside.

Manny had come over by this point. "She was more attached to me than any of the others," Tom told him. "She never wanted to leave my side. I can't believe it was her I had to put away." Tom put the Pokéball in the PC and began the process of replacing it. "But it needed to be done… I need to switch her with Kim for a better type combination in the party. Pippa's normal-type doesn't do me any good, and her flying-type won't either once Charlie evolves. She hasn't been doing great in battles, either. But that doesn't mean I can't feel bad about it."

When Kim's Pokéball was finally in his hand, he opened it up and released his Horsea for the first time. The little blue Pokémon looked around frantically. "Hi there," said Tom, causing Kim's gaze to rest on him. "I'm you're trainer, Tom." Kim shifted her head around a few more times when Tom stopped talking. "Um, why don't you meet the rest of the team?"

Tom picked her up and walked into the Pokémon pen. He set her down in the area where the rest of his team had gathered. Kim looked around at the other Pokémon… and then went berserk. Sliding on her unfurled tail like a snake, she knocked down several food bowls in a speeding frenzy, all the while loudly screeching and stopping on occasion to spit out a wad of ink. Tom put her back into her Pokéball before she could cause too much damage.

"Uh, that's going to need some work," Tom said.

* * *

Tom spent the rest of the evening training alone on Route 102. He encountered several other trainers there, and he easily defeated all of them. It was almost second nature at this point – most trainers were not nearly as serious about their hobby as he was. Few even had licenses, though Tom could defeat the ones who did almost as easily.

Of course, he did all of this without the help of Kim, whom he only released later, while training the team in Petalburg Woods. He managed to restrain her from going nuts again, but she still clearly did not want to be there. Even as she trained, she kept turning her head from side to side, as if seeking predators; when she wasn't, she was looking at the rest of Tom's team, and it was not a warm, welcoming look. "I never get the easy ones, do I?" Tom complained.

Later on, Manny noticed the general impression of unhappiness Tom was giving off. "Seems like something's bothering you," Manny inquired. "You still upset about having to give up on Pippa?"

"Sort of," said Tom. "I mean, I guess that's part of it."

"What's the other part?" asked Manny. "Don't be shy; I won't make fun of you for it."

"I might," I confessed.

"It's just that… you've killed Space Pirates with your bare hands, right? Do you ever… feel bad when you do it?"

Manny didn't get a chance to answer – I'd had enough. "No, he doesn't," I told him, "and neither do you when you give the order. They're goddamn _Space Pirates_. You never gave a crap when you killed them and now you're trying to feel bad about not feeling bad so that you can feel bad for yourself for feeling bad about yourself. The real world's a tough place, kid, and clearly it's now conflicting with your sheltered idea of how things work. Don't use that as an excuse to feed your self-pity. It's just pathetic and makes you even more of a whiny loser."

Tom looked unsure of whether or not to ignore me like he usually did. "Erm, let me put it another way," said Manny. "How do you think I ate back when I was in the wild? Because in case you didn't know, Machop aren't herbivores. Those Pirates are not the first things I've killed, Tom, and they're by far the least innocent of them."

"Oh, right," Tom said with a hint of embarrassment. "I forgot about that."

"Well, you eat meat too, even if you aren't the one who kills it. For the rest of us to live, sometimes other just have to be killed, and not always with a lot of drama or ceremony. Maybe it's hard to believe that death comes so cheap sometimes but, well, that's just how things are. I think that what Dexter was trying to tell you, in his typically insulting way, is to not worry about it so dang much. Killing those Space Pirates was sort of like hunting, if the prey regularly killed innocent life and was out to kill us too. So, no, I didn't feel any remorse over it."

Maybe I was a bit harsh on the kid. How many people have to make the kind of tough, life-threatening decisions he was forced to make several times at the age of fourteen? It must have been tough, being put in those situations so soon after going out into the world. But then, if I didn't berate him ruthlessly, who would?

* * *

Tom did stop worrying about it, at least for the rest of the night as he continued to train his Pokémon in the dark forest. He also made a certain agreement with Manny there. That's why, when he met back up with Peter and April at the Pokémon Center, he asked that April come with him and Peter into their room – he had something to tell both of them.

"You guys have to promise me not to tell anyone about this," said Tom.

"Especially not the police, right?" asked Peter.

"Righ… NO! I didn't do anything illegal!"

"Well, then I'm stumped," said Peter. "Fine, I won't tell anyone, whatever it is."

"Neither will I," said April.

"Good. Then… hmm. How do I put this? Manny, do you think you could explain it for me?"

"No problem," said Manny. "It's pretty simple, actually. I'm a Machoke and I can talk for some reason. That's really all there is to it. Any questions?"

Peter and April stared in disbelief. "…Holy crap, Tom!" said Peter. "I had no idea you were so good at ventriloquism! But why do we have to keep that a secret?"

"Because it's not ventriloquism!" Tom replied. "Manny really can talk!"

"It's true, I can," Manny confirmed.

"Incredible," breathed an awed April. "How is that possible?"

"Honestly? I have no idea," Manny answered. "While I lived in Mt. Moon I sometimes listened in on people passing by, and... how should I put this? I wouldn't say that I learned how to talk from them, exactly. It's more like it triggered something in me that I had to begin with. Lately, I've been using words every once in a while that I'm pretty sure I've never heard before, but I know how to use them anyways. It makes some sense – Pokémon don't learn their language like humans do; we understand and can speak it from the moment we're born. I guess I was like that with Standard too. I just don't know why, nor do I know why I have the vocal chords to speak with."

April continued asking questions Tom had also asked when he first met Manny – whether all Pokémon could understand humans, what it's like inside of a Pokéball, etc. – with basically the same answers. "Why is it so important that we keep this a secret?" she asked at one point.

"A few reasons," said Manny. "There's really no certainty of what would happen if the world found out. I'd be getting a lot more attention than I'd like, that's for sure. And some of it might be more than just annoying. Or not. But it's a chance I'm not yet ready to take. That was my initial reason for keeping it between me and Tom…."

"And Dexter," I added.

"…Right, and Dexter. That was the initial reason, but now I think I might have even more to worry about. The Space Pirates coming here – it's all a little bit too coincidental, isn't it? I mean, they landed right where a talking Machop happened to live..."

"That has to be just a coincidence, though," said April. "They landed there because the meteor they hitched on was headed for Mt. Moon. Lots of meteors land there."

"Maybe so," Manny conceded. "Still, isn't it a bit weird that they show up only six months or so after I'm born?"

"Whoa, whoa, back up," said Tom. "You're how old now?"

"Six months, maybe more like five," said Manny. When he saw Tom's incredulous look, he continued, "Look, haven't I already gone over how Pokémon are pretty much developed from the time they're born? We don't have much time to be helpless babies if we don't want to get killed. Six months is plenty of time for a Pokémon to mature."

"I just… I had no idea you were that young," said Tom. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it."

"But as I was saying," Manny continued, "the Pirates being here gives me more reason to keep my, erm, ability a secret. They might find it very interesting – for all I know, they're after me already. I don't know, but I don't want to find out. Not the hard way."

Peter, who had been uncharacteristically silent for a while now, finally spoke up. "Tom," he said, "Your Machoke… it can talk!"

"Um, yeah, I sort of realize that," Tom sarcastically replied.

"That. Is. SO. COOL!"

"I guess it is, isn't it?" said Manny. Then he added, in a barely audible tone, "…Most of the time…."

* * *

April had caught a Ralts while training on Route 102, and now it was eating its breakfast along with the other Pokémon in the pen. Its tiny white body was topped with something green and helmet-like, which covered its head down to its eyes and had a flat red horn at both the front and the back.

Tom, Peter, April, and Manny were watching the pen from their table. "You know there are some Pokémon that you need to trade to evolve, right, Tom?" Peter suddenly blurted out.

"Yeah," said Tom, "why?"

"Graveler is one of them. So is Machoke."

"Hey, not just yet, okay?" said Manny, just quietly enough so that only those at the table could hear. "I only evolved a couple of days ago. I need a little more time to get used to this body before I'm ready for an even bigger one."

"Oh," said Peter, sounding disappointed. But his tone became excited again as he said, "But wait, you have a Kadabra too – those also evolve that way!"

So it was that Tom and Peter used one of the trading machines located in the Pokémon Center's basement to trade Albert and Graveler. Both Pokémon were released from their Pokéballs upon being traded. Albert looked at Peter, who was now, technically, his master; Graveler looked at Tom. Simultaneously, the two Pokémon became white light and began growing and changing shape. When the evolution was complete, it was Graveler – or Golem, as she was now called – who had changed the most drastically. She now had a smooth, spherical shell surrounding her; two arms rather than four; and she had grown a neck as well. Albert, having evolved from a Kadabra into an Alakazam, had lost his tail, gained possession of a second spoon, and grown a much longer moustache, but otherwise looked much like a larger version of his pre-evolved self.

Albert and Golem looked at each other. Golem brought her claws up to her nose and made a motion mocking the enormity of Albert's new moustache, then started literally rolling around with laughter. Then she was hit by a flying spoon. Then she was hit by a hundred more flying spoons. She was poised to retaliate when, suddenly, the spoons all disappeared. Albert shrugged and acted as if he had no idea where they came from. Then the two of them fell over laughing. The kids ended up joining in the laughter too. Albert and Golem had always gotten along with each other better than most.

The two Pokémon were beamed back into their Pokéballs, which were put back into the trading machine to return them to their original owners.

* * *

It was a foggy morning, so when Tom returned to the forest to train, the visibility was even worse than in the darkness of the night, when at least they'd had a fire lit by Charlie to help see things clearly.

Kim's behavior was also even worse than before. She was now being openly hostile towards the other Pokémon, particularly Ralph. Twice, as they were doing their routine exercises, she had spit black ink in front of him after he surprised her by appearing nearby, the fog having hidden his presence. Ralph seemed to take it in good enough nature, simply giving the ink blot an odd look and giving Kim an odder one before getting back to work. The third time, Kim unthinkingly spat ink _on_ him; realizing her mistake, she slid away in panic. Ralph groaned in frustration but, fortunately for Kim, did not lose his temper.

"I don't get it," Tom said to Manny at one point. "What's Kim's problem? Do you have any idea?"

"I think that you _do_ get it, and that _you_ have some idea," said Manny. "Maybe I'm mistaken here, but I have a feeling you're only asking me to make sure that what you already know is right. Well, you're the trainer, and I'm just one of your Pokémon. Why don't you tell me what's wrong with her? I know you're a good trainer, so you should be able to figure it out."

To my surprise, Tom didn't hesitate for a second to answer. "She's scared," he said. "She's the weakest of all of my Pokémon right now, and she's scared of all of them. But she's especially scared of Ralph, who has a type advantage over her and who easily defeated her back when I caught her. And she's still used to being a wild Pokémon, when she had to watch out for danger everywhere; being near so many strong Pokémon must seem like a huge threat to her." He stopped to think for a second. "I have an idea. She's the most afraid of Ralph because he's an electric-type… so I'll pair her up with Charlie, who has a type weakness against her, for a while. Hopefully she'll be more comfortable around him."

"Good thinking!" said Manny. "See, I knew you had it in you – you just need to realize it too. If you don't think you're a good trainer, nobody will."

"Thanks," said Tom. "If I'm going to be a good trainer, though, I need to get you back to work. Don't forget that the next gym leader is another normal-type specialist, so you'll be especially important when we face him. Just try not to fall for any seductions or anything like last time."

The training continued, with Kim made to follow Charlie's lead. She was still uncomfortable, but less so than before; still, she did spit ink near the Charmeleon once when he startled her. Charlie was not as patient as Ralph; he immediately retaliated with a powerful Flamethrower in her direction. Though it was against a water-type, the difference in strength between the two Pokémon was great enough to make the attack quite effective. Then he got back to work as if nothing happened and never indicated any grudge against her. Kim didn't bother Charlie anymore after that. In fact, she seemed to grow to respect him; admiration filled her eyes every time he expertly completed a difficult task or defeated a wild Pokémon. She was much more serious about training from then on, perhaps to keep up with the Charmeleon she suddenly held in such high esteem.

* * *

Pokémon Centers tend to be adorned with several T.V.s here and there; most of the time, it was only April who gave them even a quick glance. At lunch that day, however, she brought it to the attention of the others. "Have you guys been keeping up with any of this?" she asked.

Peter looked like he was about to say something snarky in response, but stopped as soon as he – as well as Tom and Manny – saw the images on the T.V. news. Mewtwo had finally revealed himself to the public – and had killed seven people (and many more Pokémon) in doing so. Those seven people had been a part of a larger battle to take the Mossdeep Space Center back from the Space Pirates.

"The takeover of the Space Center was on the news this morning," said April. "You guys don't pay attention to the news at all, do you?"

"N… no," Tom ashamedly admitted, probably realizing that he really ought to.

"What the hell is that white thing?" asked Peter, referring to Mewtwo.

"Maybe if you be quiet for a moment and pay attention, they'll explain!" said April.

Obviously, the Space Pirates had taken over the Mossdeep Space Center earlier that day, killing many people inside in the process. Inspired by the successful uprising in Goldenrod, Pokémon trainers gathered to Mossdeep City to fight back. This time, however, things didn't go so well – especially when Mewtwo showed up. When he did, the battle was over within minutes – minutes which Mewtwo spent brutally overwhelming the resistance force. The trainers were all forced to retreat to safety. Now, the entire island of Mossdeep was being held captive; anyone foolish enough to try to sneak in or out of Mossdeep would be murdered by Mewtwo or one of his Space Pirates on sight. They even threatened to start killing civilians if anyone tried to fight them. The Space Center was now being used as a makeshift Space Pirate base.

"Why didn't Samus Aran just go in there and kick that guy's ass?" asked Peter.

"Maybe she was busy with something and couldn't get there in time," Tom suggested.

"Or… maybe she just _couldn't_," said April. "Maybe she knew that Mewtwo was too strong for her."

"Too strong for Samus Aran?" said Peter. "Doesn't sound very likely."

"Yeah," said Tom, "she's probably just worried that they'll hurt innocent people if she comes. I bet they're working out some kind of strategy first, and then she'll come save everyone later."

* * *

After lunch, Tom, Peter, and April continued their training at the Petalburg Gym. It was a fairly plain gym on the inside, much like the one in Goldenrod, another normal-type gym. The three trainers trained their Pokémon there throughout the day and into the night, up until the gym's closing time. Tom found out that the gym leader, Norman, would only battle those who had defeated four of the gym's staff members first; he decided to do that the next morning.

When the next morning came, defeating the four staff members turned out to be pretty easy for Tom. He mostly used Manny, making three of the one-on-one battles extremely one-sided; for the fourth one, he decided to use Kim instead. Though still weaker than the rest of Tom's team, she enthusiastically rose to the challenge, and with some difficulty, managed to knock out the Linoone she battled against.

After that, Tom and his friends were led to a room behind the gym's main room, where a battle arena awaited. An aging dark-haired man was there to greet them. "Hi there," he said. "I'm Norman, the leader of this gym. Which one of you managed to make it this far?"

"That'd be me," Tom said, raising his hand. "I'm Tom; nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's mine," said Norman. He looked at April. "Say, this is out of nowhere, but – young lady, has anyone ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to Professor Birch's daughter?"

That took April by surprise. "N…no," she answered. "You mean May Birch… you're the first to compare me to her."

"Ah, well, it was probably just the bandana then. But it sounds like you've heard of her."

"Who hasn't heard of her? She's the whole reason I wear this bandana in the first place. She and your son… they did some great things. You must be really proud of Brendan."

May and Brendan were to Hoenn what Red was to Kanto. Together, they had defeated both Team Aqua and Team Magma, two notorious groups with disastrous goals. That was not long after Red's own triumph, and they were about the same age that he had been, too. May was Professor Birch's daughter, and Brendan was Norman's son.

"Yeah, I am," Norman answered. "More than you could possibly know. It was even a little worrying back then, watching him get himself into so much right trouble after I let go of any control I had over him… but that's not important. In the end he went way further than I could ever imagine. And May… well, she's a fine role model to aspire to, young lady." April blushed a little.

"But enough personal stuff. You've come here for a battle, Tom, and I'm not about to let you down. You two ought to get to the sidelines if you don't want to get caught between dueling Pokémon and torn to shreds by them. As for me, I'll head over to the other side; we'll start the battle as soon as I get there. I'll be using four Pokémon, but you can use however many you want."

Everyone got into the right position. As stated, the battle began when both trainers were across from each other in the arena, a Pokéball each one's hand.

"Go, Kim!"

"Let's get this started, Spinda!"

Tom's Horsea found herself facing a short creature with spotted brown fur and with spirals where one would expect to find eyes. It seemed to be stumbling around even though it was standing in place.

"Surf!" shouted Tom.

"Teeter Dance!" Norman simultaneously shouted.

A wave of water began rising from beneath Kim's tail, carrying her up with it. At the same time, the Spinda started dancing in circles in a manner very hard to describe. It appeared as though it had become one big blur, blending into itself with every step. The Spinda's dance worked: Kim tried to push her wave forward, but the dazed Horsea ended up toppling off of it instead.

"Now use Psybeam!" said Norman. The Spinda obeyed, hitting Kim with a colorful psionic beam.

"You can do it, Kim!" said Tom. "Get it with Surf!"

Kim was still confused, but conjured another wave nonetheless, focusing on her opponent as hard as she could. She got hit with another Psybeam in the meantime, but she didn't let that break her focus. Finally, she crashed the wave down on the Spinda, who was helpless to run away from it.

"Façade!" said Norman. His Spinda slammed Kim with a hard-hitting tackle. Kim, recovering from her confusion, managed to evade further attack long enough to quickly use Surf again. This was immediately followed by the final blow – another Façade from the Spinda.

"Enough," Tom said as he withdrew Kim. "Go, Albert!"

Out came Tom's Alakazam. "Teeter Dance!" Norman commanded.

"Use Psybeam!" ordered Tom.

Albert turned out to be quite a bit faster than the Spinda – and quite a bit stronger than Kim. He blasted the Spinda before it had even started its dance and brought the dizzy little critter down with his first move.

Norman withdrew his Spinda. "You're next, Vigoroth!" he said as he released his next Pokémon. What appeared in the stadium was something white with two short hind legs and two long front ones, each of which had two long, sharp claws. The Vigoroth was bobbing up and down and shaking its limbs as if it were unable to contain itself.

"Use Reflect!" said Tom; Albert put up the invisible shield.

"Faint Attack!" said Norman. Within an instant, his Vigoroth had charged up to Albert and, its claws suddenly black, jabbed him with a motion too fast to possibly avoid. Albert was knocked onto his back by the blow.

A dark-type attack was definitely not something Tom wanted to see used against his Alakazam. "Disable it!" he ordered.

Norman waited a second as Albert emitted psionic waves to render his Vigoroth temporarily incapable of using Faint Attack; the gym leader then shouted "Encore!"

The move Encore used an odd bit of Pokémon psychology – by going through a cycle of familiar motions, the Vigoroth was able to lock Albert in the state of mind he'd been in while using Disable, making that the only move he could now use. As he'd just used it on Faint Attack, and Disable can only be used on one move at a time, this effectively made Albert useless. "That's enough for now," Tom said, and he beamed Albert back into his Pokéball. "Go, Ralph!"

As soon as Ralph appeared, Tom ordered him to use Thunderbolt while Norman ordered his Vigoroth to use Slash. Both attacks easily hit their target. When they backed away from each other, the Vigoroth started sparkling with electricity and shaking uncontrollably – two surefire signs of paralysis. But Norman smiled. It became clear why when he gave his next command. "Façade!"

Façade is a move that is much more powerful when the user is paralyzed, poisoned, or burned; unsure of whether or not Tom knew this, I displayed the fact on my screen. Either way, it was not something for him to be happy about when the Vigoroth knocked Ralph over with a super-strong tackle. The paralyzed Vigoroth, however, was only able to do this once more during the span of time in which Ralph hit it with two more Thunderbolts, the second of which knocked it out for good.

Norman withdrew his Vigoroth. "Go, Linoone!"

A long, thin Pokémon with white fur and brown stripes appeared in the arena. "Another Thunderbolt!" said Tom.

"Headbutt!" said Norman.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Linoone was too fast for Ralph, who was knocked back by the headbutt and didn't get back up. Tom put him back into his Pokéball. "Enough fooling around," he said. "Time to get serious – go, Manny!"

Manny hopped forward to enter the arena. "Another Headbutt!" said Norman.

"Use Revenge!" said Tom.

Manny took his foe's oncoming attack and then retaliated with an immensely powerful punch. The two trainers called out the same attacks again, and the situation repeated itself – but this time, the Linoone did not get back up.

"Linoone, come back!" said Norman as he withdrew his Pokémon. "Go, Slaking!"

It can be hard to tell, at first glance, that Slaking is the evolved form of Vigoroth. It's mostly brown rather than white, for one thing; more strikingly, it's enormous compared to its pre-evolved form, and much bulkier as well. "Use Low Kick!" Tom cried.

Norman remained silent as Manny ran up to the huge ape, kicked its legs, and knocked it to the ground with a _thud_. Only then did the gym leader call out, "Counter!"

The Slaking leapt back to its feet with incredible speed, catching Manny by surprise; it proceeded to bombard Manny with a barrage of punches so strong, they made Tom cringe as he watched. By the time the Slaking was done, Manny was out of the fight for good. The Slaking then lay down and stretched. "You did well, Manny," Tom said, some worry and disappointment in his tone, and he put Manny back in his Pokéball. "Let's go, Albert!"

Once again, Albert was brought out into the battle. "Reflect!" said Tom. Albert put up force fields around himself again, while the Slaking… just lay there. Relaxing. Tom looked at it with a raised eyebrow; perhaps he did not know of Slaking's Truant, which prevented them from fighting for very long without taking a quick break between attacks. Without it, they would be as powerful as a legendary Pokémon. Tom wasn't going to let the opportunity go to waste, and he ordered Albert to use Psybeam, a command he loyally carried out.

Finally, it was the Slaking's time to strike. "Faint Attack!" said Norman. Tom's pulse understandably sped up when he heard the command; it didn't slow down as he watched the Slaking jump in front of Albert and pummel him with two blackened fists. Once again, the Slaking managed to take its opponent down with a single move. Tom had to withdraw Albert.

"Finish it off, Charlie!" Tom's Charmeleon took Albert's place in the battlefield. The Slaking went back to resting again. "Use Flamethrower until it faints!"

Charlie blew a large, continuous stream of flames at the Slaking, who took the attack lying down. This went on for a while. Eventually, Norman told his Slaking, "Use Yawn!"

Without standing up, the Slaking let out a long, loud Yawn; Charlie kept his Flamethrower going, but it was slowly dying down as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "Keep going, Charlie!" Tom encouraged. "You're so close – you can finish this!" Just like that, Charlie's eyes snapped completely open; his Flamethrower got stronger than ever. Within a few seconds, he had burnt the Slaking enough to faint it.

"Come back," said Norman, and he beamed his last Pokémon back into its Pokéball.

Peter and April ran towards Tom to congratulate him on his victory; they were beaten to it by Charlie, though, who blocked them off as he happily ran in circles around Tom, cheering and celebrating as he did so. Tom smiled as he watched Charlie go; then, suddenly, Charlie stopped. He began glowing white. Then he transformed, becoming much taller, much wider, and with a much longer tail; he also sprouted a pair of wings on his back. When the light faded, he'd evolved from a Charmeleon to his final form, a Charizard.

"Wow!" Tom said in awe. "Great going, Charlie!" Charlie seemed every bit as excited about the evolution, blowing a victorious flame into the air and spreading out his wings. Then the flame disappeared and his wings drooped. Then he fell to the ground, his eyes closed, and just like that, he was asleep.

"Unbelievable," said Norman. "All of that while the effects of Yawn were setting in. Your Charizard has one heck of a fighting spirit in it."

"Tom, that was awesome!" said Peter; he and April were now standing right next to Tom and Norman. "I mean the battle, but the evolution was awesome too, and… you didn't even use all of your Pokémon, did you?"

"Nope," said Tom, "Umanda sat this one out. She'll be fine with that – more nap time for her. But if I'd been smarter, I probably could've saved another one by not bringing Albert out that second time."

"Live and learn," said Norman. "If the rest of your Pokémon are as eager to see your team win as your Charizard, though, you shouldn't have too much trouble with that."

Norman gave Tom the Balance Badge, as well as T.M. 42, which taught Façade. Tom, Peter, and April then made their way back to the gym entrance.

* * *

"Where to next?" Peter asked once they stepped outside. He lightly punched Tom's shoulder. "You're in charge now, captain!"

As usual, Tom turned to my vast library of information for help. "Next badge is in Fortree City," he said. "Jeez, that's not close at all… looks like we'll be doing a lot of walking. And biking."

"Not a problem!" said Peter. "Exercise is good for the body! And _some_ of us need to shed a few pounds." He worked the name "April" into a fake cough.

"What are you even talking about?" April asked tonelessly.

"Just sayin', it would suck if we lost you to some wild carnivore hungry for a Miltank."

"You're really not making sense. If anything, I could stand to _gain_ a few pounds."

"You sure about that?" Peter pinched one of April's thighs, much to her shock. "Your stomach might be small, but only cuz all the weight ends up down here." Livid, April sent a punch Peter's way, but he dodged it just in time.

Tom wasn't happy to have to chase after them as Peter ran away from a furious April. "I said walking or biking, you guys, not running!"


	18. Mainland Hoenn

Tom kept his distance from Jeffrey as Peter showed him off. "It's weird," Peter remarked. "Pokémon are supposed to get stronger when they evolve, but Jeffrey's gotten way weaker. He can't suck energy anymore, and all he really can do is use these spikes here to attack." Peter rubbed one of the floating Alpha Metroid's protruding spikes; Tom recoiled a little. "Strange, huh?"

"Yeah," Tom said, just a hint of unease in his tone. "Um, aren't you kind of scared to be so close and… friendly with it?"

"Course not," said Peter as he pet Jeffrey's carapace. "He won't harm me; I'm his trainer. And anyways, what kind of trainer would keep around a Pokémon he's afraid of?"

"I guess you're right," Tom admitted. Slowly, he stepped towards Jeffrey until he stood right in front of him. He hesitantly pet the Metroid too. Jeffrey made a squeaky sound. "What was that?" Tom asked in surprise. "Is it… happy? Or angry?"

"Hard to tell," said Peter. "I'd guess that he's neither; maybe he's just curious or surprised. He doesn't exactly show off his heart on his shoulder. I don't even know if he _has_ a heart – literally, I mean."

Tom looked into Jeffrey's blank, inexpressive eyes; they must have reminded him of Buddy. "Hey, Manny," said Tom, "can you… wait, why are you so tense?"

He'd just noticed Manny's fighting position. "Must've been instinct," Manny answered. "I did it without thinking when you got near that Met… when you got near Jeffrey."

"Well, settle down – I'll be fine," said Tom. Manny settled down. "Anyways, I was about to ask you – you can talk to other Pokémon, right? Then if Jeffrey's actually a Pokémon, shouldn't you be able to talk to him?"

"Maybe," said Manny. "It's worth a try." He looked at Jeffrey and then spoke in what to Tom and Peter must have sounded like incoherent nonsense. Jeffrey continued staring blankly forward until Manny finished; when he did, Jeffrey turned towards Peter, looked at him with the same blank stare, and gave out a single screech. "Looks like it didn't work," said Manny.

"Didn't think it would," said Peter. "He doesn't hang around much with my other Pokémon. Or with anyone who isn't me, really. Poor thing must feel lonely."

"You guys go ahead and keep ignoring me," April said sarcastically. There was quite a distance between her and everyone else, with only Ralts sticking by her. "It's not like I feel left out or anything."

"Great!" Peter said enthusiastically. "Good timing, too – here's a wild Zigzagoon. C'mon, Tom, lemme show you what Jeffrey's made of!"

Tom looked back at April apologetically. Meanwhile, Charlie, who had apparently been standing still for too long for his liking, went over to see April. (Tom's Pokémon were starting to get a bit big to have out two of them at once, but he still managed to do it.) But just as Charlie got close, Ralts cut him off, defensively standing between Charlie and April with her thin little arms spread wide. Knowing where he wasn't wanted, Charlie went back over to Tom. "Come on, Ralts," April said gloomily, "let's go train somewhere."

* * *

That all happened on Route 102, which connects Petalburg City to Oldale Town. At Oldale Town – a very small, empty place – everyone went to the Pokémon Center to get their lunch. There really isn't much to do at Oldale, so they all immediately headed north to Route 103.

A river separates Route 103 into two halves. The three trainers stood at the shore of the western half, looking across the river to the eastern half, where they needed to go. "Now what?" asked Peter. "I mean, I have a Vaporeon, but that hardly matters when he doesn't know Surf."

"Not a problem," said Tom. He put down his backpack and pulled something out of it. "This is the H.M. for Surf," he explained. "I already taught it to Kim, so just use it on your Vaporeon and we're set to cross the river."

"What about me?" asked April. "I don't have any water Pokémon."

"I'm pretty sure there are some Pokémon that can use Surf that aren't water-type," said Tom. "Let me check." He used me to search for all known Pokémon that can use Surf, and then filtered it to find only those which April owned. "Um, this isn't good… none of your Pokémon can learn it."

Peter shrugged. "Guess you're just gonna have to swim across."

Tom and April ignored him. "I'll send Kim back for you when I'm across," Tom told her. "Just wait here while Peter and I get there."

And so, with all other Pokémon withdrawn, Tom and Peter rode Kim and Vaporeon, respectively, across the river. This was difficult for both of them, since both Pokémon were fairly small, but especially for Tom. Kim was simply tiny. Tom had to clench his knees around her to ride on her; most of his body was submerged in water throughout the trip.

A pair of Wingull, apparently in a grumpy mood, tried to attack the two travelers. Kim and Vaporeon made short work of them, even with the weight of their trainers on their backs. A Tentacool beneath them also looked like it was seeking out trouble, but Tom and Peter reached shore before ever having to deal with it.

"You should send Vaporeon back for April too," Tom told Peter. "There's some dangerous wild Pokémon in there – she'll need protection." Peter agreed, and the two of them sent Kim and Vaporeon back to the other side of the river. "Don't give any orders that aren't necessary, okay?" Tom said sternly. "This isn't the time for fooling around."

"Don't be silly," Peter replied. "It's not like I want to see her get hurt or anything."

April got on Kim's back and, with Vaporeon beside her, began crossing the river. A Magikarp jumped out of the water and splashed back in. Nothing unusual. Then an enormous Gyarados emerged from the river and blocked April's path. The huge, blue serpent was looking at her and Kim with hungry eyes. April looked scared, but she didn't lose her cool; this was what Vaporeon was there for. He swiftly swam up to the wild Gyarados and Bit its wide neck with his small mouth as hard as he could. The Gyarados roared in pain; then, with a _swish_ of its tail, it threw Vaporeon off of its neck. At this point, Kim apparently forgot her purpose, fixating on the battle instead of carrying April to shore. With a shivering April clinging forcefully to her, Kim gathered up the water around her to Surf right into the Gyarados.

"Kim, _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_" Tom screamed across the river. "You're supposed to take her to safety!"

The distant cry came to Kim too late: the Gyarados retaliated by Thrashing its large body against her… knocking April into the river. April finally lost her cool, giving out a scream as she flew away from her ride and splashed into the water. Vaporeon had Bit the Gyarados again, but he saw that Kim had now joined the fight, and that it looked like she wasn't going to leave it. With this knowledge, Vaporeon detached himself from the wild Pokémon and swam for April, who was frantically splashing about to keep herself afloat. As if there wasn't enough trouble at the moment, a wild Tentacool added to it all by grabbing ahold of April (who screamed again in horror) and attempting to drag her underwater. Vaporeon Bit into the Tentacool and tore it away from April. With Kim still battling the Gyarados and Vaporeon fighting to keep the Tentacool from grabbing her again, April was on her own, about halfway between the river's shores.

Tom released Manny and quickly told him what to do. As the two separate battles continued, Manny swam to April's rescue; he took her in one arm and then quickly swam back to shore without a hitch. April was so shaken by the incident that she was on the verge of tears.

In the end, Kim somehow managed to defeat the Gyarados, though it was far from a one-sided battle. When she got to shore, Tom scolded her harder than I'd ever seen him scold anything. "What the hell were you _thinking?_ You directly disobeyed me, and April could've gotten killed because of it!" Kim looked suitably ashamed. "Don't expect to get any dinner tonight. In fact, don't expect me to let you out of your Pokéball for _any_ reason other than training and eating for the next two days. That'll show you – and the rest of the team, too – what happens when you act impulsively and selfishly, and disobey orders." Tom put her back in her Pokéball, replacing her with Umanda.

It didn't even take a full minute for April's horror to transform into frustration. "I have GOT to get myself a water-type Pokémon," she growled.

The three trainers walked on, accompanied by Manny, Umanda, Vaporeon, and Flareon. Flareon shyly, but persistently, tried to make conversation with Umanda, who was about as uninterested in Flareon as she was uninterested in almost everything. Vaporeon was wiser to not bother. He merely kept close to his master, Peter – who, at that moment, was mocking April's screams. As usual, April was ignoring him.

It was a short walk to Route 110 – just long enough for everyone's quick-dry clothes to have dried completely by the time they got there. A small building greeted their arrival, along with a sign outside of it identifying it as the Trick House. "Puzzle games, huh?" said Peter, reading the house's description on the sign. "Those aren't really my thing." April muttered something incoherent about him being too stupid to solve them, ruining an easy and obvious opportunity for an actual, coherent insult to his intelligence.

Tom, ever the navigator, was looking at my screen again. "If we're not stopping at this place, then we have a choice to make," he said. "There's two ways to get to Mauville City from here. We can walk through the grassy, wild-Pokémon-infested land bridge, or ride uphill on the cycling road above it."

"I have a better idea," said April, who was still as grumpy as ever. Mauville City was north; she was pointing south, to the nearer-by Slateport City. "There's civilization just over there. I've had enough of traveling for the moment."

"C'mon, don't be a killjoy," said Peter. "Things were just starting to get fun! There'll be no more swimming or Surfing on the land bridge, and I want to keep on moving."

"And _why_ should I care what you want?"

"You guys, let's go to Slateport," Tom intervened. "The place where April wants to go," he elaborated in response to their blank faces. "She's been through a lot today. She deserves a break."

"_What?_" said Peter. "You've gotta be… we're POKÉMON TRAINERS, for goodness sakes. Wild and crazy stuff is supposed to happen to us all the time! What kind of a wuss is she, to have to put things on pause after every little scare?"

"You're not the one who was almost eaten by a Gyarados and drowned by a Tentacool!" April retorted.

"Yeah, and I'm not the one being a wuss about it."

"_Wuss?_ Well, call me that if you want, but at least I'm not a…."

The unbearable bickering continued as they walked towards Slateport City. "Ugh, how long are we going to have to listen to those two go at it?" Manny asked Tom.

"Let them be," Tom replied. "They're just flirting."

Neither April nor Peter heard him over the noise of their combined bickering. "Man, is this really how humans flirt?" asked Manny. "Your species is _weird_."

* * *

They spent the rest of the day exploring Slateport; it wasn't hard to find things to do in a city that big. There were plenty of shops at the outdoor Slateport Market, for one thing, and this was the first target of the three trainers. There was also the Contest House, one of several in Hoenn. April brought them there despite claiming to have no interest in Pokémon contests; she actually went in there to make a specific type of Pokéblock, but Tom and Peter didn't seem to grasp the concept of Pokéblocks, so she gave up on explaining it to them. There were also plenty of trainers for them to battle along the way.

As usual, dinner was at the local Pokémon Center. While they were there, Tom and Manny agreed that it was time for Manny to evolve.

"Why'd we wait so long for this, again?" asked Peter as he accompanied Tom and Manny to the basement.

"I can't just go from small to big that quickly!" said Manny. "If I had, we wouldn't be this far by now, 'cause it would have taken at least an extra day or two to get adjusted before I could help beat Norman. I've been a Machoke for long enough, though, that now I think I'm ready for the next step up."

Using one of the Pokémon Center's trading machines, Tom traded Manny for – why not? – Jeffrey. Peter released Manny, who got bigger, bulkier, and grew an extra pair of arms in his transformation into a Machamp. Then he got withdrawn, traded back to Tom, and released again.

"You know what I don't get?" said Peter as they began walking back to their seats upstairs. "How is it that being traded turns you into a completely different creature? That doesn't make any sense to me."

A couple of people were passing by, so Manny withheld from talking until they were out of earshot, and then answered quietly. "It is pretty weird, now that I think about it. You have to understand what it feels like, though, for a Pokémon to go from one master to another. It's a really, really weird feeling. When you're so used to obeying one person's orders, then see a completely different person and all of a sudden know that they're going to replace that spot in your mind now… something inside your brain changes. I mean that I could actually physically _feel_ something inside my head changing. It's probably the same part of my brain that set Tom as my master when he caught me in a Pokéball. I guess that change triggered some other changes that made me evolve. That's all I can really tell you – I'm not a Pokémon biologist, you know."

After dinner, they continued exploring the town, but with more of an emphasis on training and battling this time around. The beach on the southern shore and the Battle Tent in particular were hotspots for Pokémon battling activity. April finally got Ralts to evolve into a Kirlia while they were at it; Peter, meanwhile, got Magnemite to evolve into a Magneton. This happened to be the first day where none of their training was solitary – they stuck together the whole time, helping each other out and cheering each other on. Yes, even April and Peter. Go figure.

* * *

The cooperative training continued throughout the following morning, when they travelled across the land bridge on Route 110, battling trainers and the occasional wild Pokémon along the way. Mauville City was on the other side; it was still early in the day when they got there, so they went to the nearby Route 117 to the city's west to continue training until lunchtime.

By the time they stopped for lunch at the Pokémon Center, it had so far been a relatively uneventful day. Of course, that couldn't last. Right after lunch, Peter got a call from Professor Elm.

"We have your Murkrow," said Elm. "He's just fine – we've cured him, and now we're ready to give him back to you." The end of this sentence was drowned out by Peter's loud, joyful celebrating, which got the others to check out what was happening.

"Putting it simply, we developed a virus to alter the Murkrow's DNA," Elm continued. "You see, in all of the dark-type Pokémon with problems like yours that we observed, we noticed strange genetic sequences not present in older dark-types – or in fact, other Pokémon of any type. In light of this observation, we..." Elm went on about how they fixed the problem, but I doubt anyone who was listening (other than me, of course) understood it in the least. They were in a bit of a daze after the excessively long-winded explanation. "…And now it's ready to be picked up at Professor Birch's laboratory in Littleroot Town!"

Peter's expression lost some of its euphoria. "Uh, Littleroot Town?"

"It's just south of Oldale," Tom informed him.

"It's okay if that's too far," said Elm. "It might be day or two, but if you want, we can find a way to…."

Peter cut him off. "It's fine," he said, "I'll go to Litteroot to fetch him. I can get there today if I go fast enough."

When Peter got off the phone, he immediately withdrew all of his Pokémon and then quickly ran to the Pokémon Center door. "Let's go!" he shouted while he sped outside. Tom was about to follow his lead, but when he saw April moving deliberately slowly, he followed hers instead. When Tom, April, and Manny finally got outside, Peter was right there waiting for them. "What gives?" he asked. "I said we have to move fast, remember? We need to if we want to get to Littleroot today."

"You should hurry up, then," said April. "But I don't recall ever saying that _I_ was going to Littleroot."

"You're staying behind?" asked Peter. There was the tiniest hint of disappointment hidden in his voice.

"Yeah, I think I am," said April. "Maybe I'll visit that Trick House you made us pass over for being too much for your brain to handle."

Peter shrugged. "Fine then. Come on, Tom, let's go!" He took his bike out of his backpack, unfolded it from its portable form, and got on it. Only then did he realize that Tom hadn't moved at all. "Tom? You coming?"

"Um, actually, I think I'm not," said Tom. I was as surprised as anyone. "I mean, I _did_ kind of want to go to that Trick House thing. And I'd hate to abandon April and leave her all alone..."

"Oh, okay. So you'd rather abandon _me_, then." Tom tried to protest, but Peter went on before he could. "Whatever, I really don't care. You two have fun on your little date. I'll meet you back here at Mauville later." He briefly waved farewell and then sped off on his bike.

Tom was pretty confused. "Is he really mad at us?" he asked.

"Nah," said April, "he's just being dumb. As usual." She released her Pachirisu to accompany her; Tom, in turn, released Ralph, who bashfully found himself in Pachirisu's joyful embrace the moment he materialized. They all began walking south, towards Route 110. "I honestly want to like him," said April. "But he doesn't make it easy."

"You just have to accept him for who he is," said Tom. "It shouldn't be too hard if you try not to hold too much against him."

"Easy for you to say," said April. "You're not the one he's a complete dick to."

"Yeah, true," Tom had to admit.

Pachirisu, in her typical hyperactively curious fashion, had observed Manny's figure from every angle and had then gotten him to juggle her and Ralph around in his arms like some sort of amusement ride. Manny didn't seem to mind; in fact, he hadn't even been paying attention to the kids. He'd been pretty happy ever since evolving. "Hey, guys, you know what's really awesome?" Manny asked out of nowhere. "Having four arms, that's what's really awesome."

* * *

None of them brought up the subject of Peter again. Instead, they talked about the Space Pirates, Samus, Jude, June, and whatever else popped into their minds. They once again worked their way across the land bridge on Route 110 to get to the Trick House. Once there, they competed in a complicated series of mazes and puzzle games. Though they didn't win anything, they seemed to have a good time there.

Peter still hadn't arrived by dinnertime, so they had it without him. Afterwards, they stood outside and pondered their options.

"Hey, you know what's great?" asked Manny during a prolonged silence.

"Gee, I dunno," Tom sarcastically replied, "is it having four arms, which you've been bragging about all day?"

"I can't help it, okay? It's just… it's like I can do twice as many things at the same time now! Or if I'm doing one thing I can do it twice as well! I'm telling you, having four arms is amazing!"

"Yeah, I'll have to try it sometime."

"Guys… look up!" said April. Two objects in the sky were approaching them. Within seconds, two people and two Pokémon stood before them: Professor Birch, on the back of a magnificent, winged Salamence; and Peter, who was scrunched tightly against his little Murkrow in much the same manner in which Tom and April had ridden the tiny Kim earlier.

"Peter!" said Tom in greeting. "Wow, I hadn't expected you to fly here!"

"Me neither," said Peter. "But Professor Birch gave me – wait, right, you guys haven't met him. Professor, these are my friends Tom and April. Guys, this is Professor Birch, the top Pokémon scientist in Hoenn. He's awesome!"

Handshakes and greetings ensued. "Thanks!" Birch said to Peter. "To be honest, though, it was mostly Oak and Elm's work that helped us discover the cure for your Murkrow – those two are really something else."

"Anyways," Peter continued, "Professor Birch gave me the H.M. for Fly while I was at his lab, so I taught it to Murkrow. He's a little guy, but you'd be surprised how easily he could lift me up in the air."

"Yet more proof that there's more to Pokémon than meets the eye," added Birch.

"Pokémon can only fly to places they've been to before, though, and Murkrow hadn't been to Mauville. So Professor Birch was nice enough to lead us there on his badass Salamence!" The Salamence spread its wings out and raised its head; it seemed to know that it had been complimented.

"Was the least I could do," said Birch.

"Oh, by the way…" Peter pulled a silver disk out of his backpack. "This is the H.M. that teaches Fly. Tom, you should use it on Charlie! And April… wait… you don't have any flying-types, do you?"

"No," said April, sounding like she suddenly wished that she did.

"Sorry for the short meeting, but I really need to get back to the lab now," said Birch. "You never know when I could be needed. Hoenn's going through tough times, after all."

"It is?" asked Peter.

"He's talking about the Space Pirates," April said while rolling her eyes.

Before long, Birch and his Salamence were once again in the air, flying away from the three kids. Once they were just a speck in the sky, the kids decided on a plan of action: they would travel towards Fortree City and attempt to get there tonight. This meant going west to Route 118, which would take them to the long, winding Route 119. The three of them – along with Manny, Albert, Bayleef, and Murkrow – began making the trip. As they did, Peter told them about every detail of his journey to and from Littleroot, even though absolutely nothing of interest had happened.

It wasn't long after they'd gotten to Route 118 that they found…

"Another river," April moped. "Perfect. I was afraid something like this would happen." Indeed, a river – not quite as wide as the one on Route 103 – separated the route into two halves; crossing it was essential to proceed. Bayleef nudged her head against her owner in an attempt to comfort her.

"You know, with Peter's new H.M., we probably don't even have to swim you across," said Tom. "Once me and Peter get there, he could send Murkrow to Fly you to us."

Peter wasn't even listening at this point; he was too busy giving his Murkrow pointless little commands just because he was so pleased that, for once, it actually obeyed them. "Raise your right wing! Stand on one leg! Man, we really take it for granted how willing these little guys are to do everything we ask of them."

"And us not-so-little guys," Manny corrected him.

"True that," said Peter. He looked at April, who was still upset about her inability to cross the river on her own. "Murkrow, go say hello to April!" he ordered.

April soon found herself looking at a small black bird on her shoulder. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hi there, little guy!"

She must have been surprised that Peter had done something to her that wasn't mean. Of course, that couldn't last. "Now take her bandana!"

In an instant, the bandana was off April's head and in the beak of Murkrow, who just as quickly flew over to Peter. "What the hell, Peter!" April said indignantly.

"See what I mean?" said Peter. "These guys will do anything for us."

"Peter, give that back!"

"Okay fine. I was just proving a point, gosh. Murkrow, give that back to her!" Murkrow obeyed, landing on April's shoulder and holding the bandana out for her to snatch. Bayleef, too warm and caring to be angry, merely gave Murkrow a very disappointed look; Murkrow stared back defiantly. Meanwhile, April was tying the headscarf back on. "Now poop on it!"

Again, it happened too fast to be prevented: the next thing anyone knew, April's bandana had a large white smear on it. By the time she took it off to look, Murkrow was already next to Peter, who found the scene to be hilarious. April, not so much. Even Bayleef looked somewhat angry for once. For April, it was far more than somewhat. "_PETER!_" You could practically see flames spurting from her eyes.

"Problem?" Peter managed to ask between laughs.

"I've had this bandana since… since…." April threw her bandana at the ground. "Goddamnit Peter, I am so sick of your shit!" Furious didn't even begin to describe her condition at that point. "Bayleef, Tackle him!"

Now Peter finally pulled himself together. "Murkrow, stop her with a Wing Attack!"

Peter increased his distance from the rampaging Bayleef, but Murkrow stopped her in her path with the force of his wings. "Ha!" said Peter. "Flying-type beats grass-type!"

That's when April brought out her second Pokémon – Pachirisu – to fight alongside her first. "Thunderbolt!" she cried. Murkrow never had a chance; it went down in one hit.

"Uh, Tom?" Manny whispered as Peter released two more Pokémon. "Are they flirting again?"

Golem and Grotle now fought on Peter's side. "I, um… I don't think so," Tom whispered back.

Bayleef directed her Magical Leaf at Golem, who took the attack and created a powerful Earthquake, damaging every Pokémon there but herself. Amazingly, Pachirisu was still up after the attack, and still able to use a Thunder Wave on Grotle, who was busy using Bite on Bayleef.

"Are we going to put a stop to this?" Manny asked.

"I don't think we can at this point," said Tom. "So far, this is just an honest battle – not too much to worry about. I guess there are worse ways they could have chosen to settle their differences."

Pachirisu was out cold now, thanks to a Mega Drain from Grotle. April sent out Kirlia in her place. As soon as Grotle took Pachirisu out, though, he began glowing, and the process of evolution began. He grew larger; the bushes on his back became one small tree; he grew sharp spikes on his back and neck. When the process was complete, he was a fully-evolved Torterra.

April used the opportunity to her advantage: as Grotle was becoming Torterra, she ordered Kirlia and Bayleef to both direct a Magical Leaf attack at Golem. It was easily enough to knock the big boulder out of the fight. Peter thought for half a second, then said, "Go, Magneton!"

Peter's Magnemite, after evolving in Slateport City, now resembled three Magnemite stuck together. "Use Magnet Bomb on Bayleef!" Peter instructed it.

"Kirlia, Confusion on Grot… on Torterra! Balyeef, um, Reflect!" said April. Directing two Pokémon in a double battle was a complex, confusing affair.

"Torterra, Bite that Kirlia!" said Peter. The order might have taken April off guard, but luckily for her, Torterra was still Paralyzed; it took a while for him to complete one attack. Kirlia, being weak and very new to April's team, fought the paralyzed Pokémon on more or less equal terms. Still, overall, April's team was in a worse state than Peter's; Bayleef was incapable of getting much damage done to the steel-type Magneton, and still hurting from Grotle's attack (before Grotle became Torterra). So it wasn't surprising when Bayleef became too exhausted to continue fighting.

April withdrew Bayleef wordlessly. "Flareon! Go!" shouted April. "Fire Blast!" she yelled, pointing at Magneton, before Flareon had even fully materialized. Peter managed to withdraw Magneton just in time; the enormous flame hit the empty space where it had just been floating. April stomped her foot into the ground in rage. "On Torterra, then!"

A strange series of events followed. Torterra had just finished Biting Kirlia enough times to knock her out when the Fire Blast reached him, engulfing him in flames and knocking _him_ out. Peter had been releasing Vaporeon while this was happening. The result of all of this was that the only two Pokémon left standing were Flareon and Vaporeon. Both trainers immediately sought to remedy this.

"Go, Magneton! Vaporeon, use Surf!" Peter yelled, allowing one Pokémon to attack while he released the other.

"Fire Blast!" April shouted, pointing to Magneton with one hand while releasing Sudowoodo (her last Pokémon) with her other. Flareon attempted to blow out another fiery batch of destruction, but it was too late: Vaporeon was already Surfing toward him and Sudowoodo on a large wave. The wave came crashing down on April's last two Pokémon with devastating results. Sudowoodo fainted before ever getting the chance to attack. Flareon just barely managed to hang on. April looked on wide-eyed; she didn't call out another attack. She knew she had been defeated. Nonetheless, Flareon tried to create on last Fire Blast; before he could, however, Magneton took him out with a Thunderbolt to end the battle.

"Yes!" Peter cheered. "Sweet! I win! Boy, that was pretty stupid, trying to attack me for some dumb joke when your Pokémon aren't even as strong as mine."

Peter withdrew his Magneton and Vaporeon; April, however, did nothing about the unconscious Flareon before her. She had her head in her hands. Peter continued his gloating nonetheless. "I didn't even have to use Jeffrey! I was afraid you'd tell me it was cheap or something, so I used everyone except him to prove that I can beat you fair and square. And with two Pokémon left standing! Not like it wasn't obvious enough, though. I mean, I was the one battling Space Pirates with my Pokémon when you didn't even have it in you. Really, it's kinda silly that you even thought you could…."

His speech was interrupted when Tom shoved him in the shoulder. He was mad. I'd only seen him angrier than this a couple of times, and only in Jude's presence. When Peter gave him a confused look, Tom pointed to April. Tears were rolling beneath the hands covering her eyes.

"Um, April?" said Peter. He must not have known what else to say.

April uncovered her face; it was a watery mess. "…You okay?" Peter asked, even though she obviously wasn't.

"Just shut up," April said in a hoarse voice. She withdrew Flareon and then immediately ran away. She ran north – upstream along the river – even though it wasn't possible to get very far that way before getting blocked by rocky cliffs.

"Should we follow her?" asked Peter.

"No," said Tom, who'd lost his anger but not his tenseness. "I think she needs to be alone right now."

Peter picked up the abandoned bandana by a corner, careful not to touch the turd in the center. "She was pretty hurt, huh?" said Peter, as if this was a surprising revelation. Tom didn't need to answer.

"Let's go back," said Tom. "We might as well get some training done today."

"Yeah," Peter agreed. He gave one last worried look northward. April was no longer visible – just a lot of rocks and sand next to the river, all under an orange, cloudy sky. He gave up looking for her and followed Tom westward, which happened to be where the sun was approaching the horizon.

* * *

Tom trained alone again that night – he went to Route 117, while Peter went down to Route 110. After a sufficient amount of time had passed, Tom decided to go back to Route 118 to see if April was still there – and, if she was, to pay her a visit.

At first, Charlie lit the way for Tom and Manny as they worked their way over the rocky terrain near the river; when it began raining, however, this became inadvisable. The weather could get erratic around those parts, especially as you got closer to the Weather Institute further upstream. So Tom withdrew Charlie, took out his umbrella, and used my flashlight function to light the way from then on. Tom and Manny trudged on through the rain; the further upstream the river they walked, the rockier the ground became. Eventually, they found April fishing in the river, her Pokémon spread out around her.

"Hi," said Tom. April merely waved to him, not taking her eyes off of her fishing line. "Your Pokémon are healed. Did you go to the Center?"

April shook her head. "Revives," she said. "And Hyper Potions."

"Oh," said Tom. "Hey, do you want my umbrella? You must be getting pretty wet."

She shook her head again. "I'm fine." Her voice was devoid of emotion.

Tom tried another question. "What're you fishing for?"

"Feebas," she answered. "It won't be easy; they're extremely rare, and they're only found in this river. They're really weak and really ugly, and nobody likes them." She sniffled a little. "But… but with the right tools, they evolve into a strong, beautiful Milotic. So that's why I'm fishing for it, even though it's so useless and hard to catch."

A brief pause followed. "April," said Tom, "Peter doesn't always mean to be a jerk. He just does things without thinking. Sometimes he doesn't even realize he's doing anything bad."

"I know," said April.

"You shouldn't have tried to hurt him after he ruined your bandana, though."

"I know," said April, a little more forcefully this time. "I already know everything you're telling me. And I really don't care."

That wasn't what Tom was expecting. "You sure?"

April gripped her fishing rod a little tighter. "You really don't get it. Please just go."

"April…."

"You're scaring the fish. Go away."

Fifteen seconds of silence later, Tom finally obliged. I was about to insult his lack of smoothness when he turned around for one last statement. "You're a great trainer, April," he shouted over the noise of the rain crashing down on the river. "One of the best. Don't let one defeat make you forget that." April finally looked up from her fishing to turn her head toward him. But Tom had already turned back around to lead Manny back to Mauville.

* * *

April still wasn't at the Pokémon Center when Tom and Peter had breakfast there the following morning. When they were done, they once again walked over to Route 118. Tom, Peter, Manny, Charlie, and Murkrow then followed the river upstream until they found April, right where Tom had left her. The sky was now nearly cloudless, but they were surrounded by mist as the rain from the night before slowly evaporated. Tom and his Pokémon stood back while Peter – and Murkrow, who was circling around him – approached her.

Bayleef was sitting next to April, but was no longer Bayleef. There was no longer a leaf on her head; instead, there were two antennae. A large, pink flower also replaced her necklace around her neck. "Whoa, she evolved?" was the first thing Peter said to April.

"Yeah," April said without looking up. "A lot of wild Pokémon I've caught have tried to attack us. She evolved into a Meganium while battling one of them."

"Awesome," said Peter. During the brief pause that followed, Murkrow landed on his master's shoulder. Peter put down his backpack and took something out of it – April's bandana. "Here," he said; "I washed this last night for you."

For the first time, April looked away from the river and towards Peter. "I'm sorry I made Murkrow mess it up," he told her.

She took the bandana from his outstretched arm. "You shouldn't have done it in the first place," she simply stated. She tied it around her head. "I'm not going to apologize for telling Bayleef to attack you, by the way."

"Fine," said Peter. Murkrow glared at April; he didn't look as apologetic as his trainer. Then again, hostility seemed to be his default facial expression. "I wonder, though – what would've happened if you had won against me?"

"I'd have had you sliced in two, probably," said April. She said it without any bitterness, though. In fact, happiness seemed to be returning to her, and she even had a hint of a smile on. Perhaps this is why Tom chose that moment to step closer to the scene.

"Guys," said April, "I think there's a better chance of catching Feebas if I go a little further upstream. That means crossing the river with you, though, so I'll need your help." Tom and Peter both confirmed that they would help her, although she only needed one of them to do so.

Of course, no situation was complete without my expertise. "Why'd you put that ugly bandana back on? It looks awful."

"What would you know?" April asked as she reeled in her line and began packing up. "You're a machine. You don't have a fashion sense."

"Hah! I'll have you know that I have access to every fashion magazine ever published in my database storage, as well as the ability to analyze them to find and all human visual standards and apply them to any situation. In other words, I have the most sophisticated fashion sense you'll ever find."

"Okay, we get it, you're smart," said April, who nonetheless didn't care what I had to say. "Geez, you almost sound like my brother."

"I have more reason to speak that way than he does. You can't even imagine how many leagues higher my IQ is than even the smartest humans."

Perhaps to prevent me from saying anything more, the kids then started discussing how they'd get everyone across the river. Technically, trainers weren't legally allowed to use Fly to get places without a certain badge – as it happened, the one that Tom was trying to get next – or an escort. However, the three kids figured it wouldn't harm anyone to momentarily ignore this rule to get over the narrow river. Once they had gotten back on Route 118's main path, Charlie and Murkrow flew Tom and Peter across the river, respectively. It didn't take long, but Tom was exhilarated by every second of it; this was the first time he had flown on a Pokémon's back. Once the boys were across, Charlie went back for April to give her a ride. It was far less of a hassle than Surfing would have been.

Route 119 was right around the corner. So was a huge field of very tall grass – grass, in fact, even taller than Tom. It was training time. The three of them trained as a team again as they walked through the field, making their Pokémon work out as much as possible before getting to the other side. They weren't the only ones training there – each of them got a chance to battle another trainer who happened to walk by.

They got to the end of the field about an hour and a half later – they hadn't been in any hurry. Immediately, the river's sandy shore was there to greet them. It was there that April made her temporary departure. "You guys can go on to Fortree City," she told them. "I'll meet you there whenever I catch a Feebas. I will _not _leave this river until I have one."

"I hope you catch one soon," Peter said in encouragement as he waved her farewell.

"Th…thanks," replied April, unsure what to make of Peter actually saying something nice to her.

April was taking out her fishing equipment when the two boys and three Pokémon (Manny, Charlie, and Murkrow) left her behind to continue going north. "You know," Peter said to Manny, "I've heard of a forehead before, but I haven't heard of a _four arm_."

"Uh, yes you have," said Tom, pointing to his forearm. "It's this thing right here."

"Hey, no need to get all up in arms about it. This is my call to arms, here!"

Since April was absent, it was up to me to point out his idiocy. "Please stop," I begged him. "If I had ears, they'd be bleeding right now."

Ignoring me, Peter again spoke to Manny. "You know, if you tried to see which one of them could punch the fastest, you could have an _arms race_."

Tom chuckled. "That one was actually kind of funny."

I groaned. "Not you, too."

"What can I say?" said Manny. "I'm armed and dangerous!"

At that point I completely gave up on all of them. Luckily, the banter stopped right there. They were climbing up a hill to get to a bridge reaching across the river; it was then that something on the bridge caught their attention. Or rather, someone.

"TOM! PETER!" shouted Opal Embs, jumping up and down and waving her arms about frantically. "I'M OVER HERE!"

"I can tell!" Tom yelled back, smiling.

"What. The. Hell." Peter said, mostly to himself.

Opal ran across the bridge, and they began running up the hill; they all ended up meeting right where the bridge met the hill. She briefly hugged Tom. Her Ditto, who was with her, saw Charlie and immediately Transformed into him. Charlie seemed to find this amusing; he flew up off of the ground and began circling his copy, who in turn got up to chase him.

"What are YOU doing here?" Peter asked Opal in lieu of a greeting.

"Castform!" Opal replied. "You can get them at the Weather Institute on this Route up that way! When I heard about that I just had to come and get one myself! It's not like I heard you guys were here and made up an excuse to come see you or anything like that." She blushed heavily.

"Have you gotten a Castform yet?" asked Tom.

"Nope. I was up on this bridge looking down to see if I could find you but I couldn't so I was about to give up when there you were on the hill!" She drew in a much-needed breath. "I was on my way there now. Do you guys want to come into the Weather Institute with me? Do you? Please?"

"Of course," said Peter. "I mean, you're fine with it, right Tom?" Tom confirmed that he was. "Then let's go! We're always looking for more stuff to do and more places to go."

"Yay!" Opal exclaimed. "And as soon as I get a Castform I want to test my team by battling you again Tom!"

"Sounds like plan," said Tom.

It wasn't clear if Opal had even heard him, though; she never stopped to take a breath. "And you need to see all of my new Pokémon! Well technically only Shedinja is new, but a lot of my Pokémon have evolved too and you need to see them! Here's Shedinja…." Nobody else got a word in for the rest of the walk to the Weather Institute; Opal spent the whole time showing off all of her Pokémon and saying everything there was to say about them. They all walked across the bridge and up the hill on the other side, Opal blabbering the whole time.

She had gotten to Delibird when everything changed. "I know you've seen her before, but I wanted to show her to you again because she's really improved, check out... Mff! Mmmfffmm!" She couldn't speak anymore because Peter had forcefully closed her mouth with his hand. She looked up angrily at his stern face; he was looking straight ahead.

Tom had noticed it too. "Oh no…" he whispered.

A small field of tall grass stood between them and the Weather Institute, which had just become visible to them. It was being guarded by Space Pirates. From where the kids stood, they could see six of them: two on the roof, and four down on the ground.

Tom looked at Peter; their faces were both as stern as ever. Opal, still in Peter's grasp, had finally shut up. The two boys nodded at each other. No words were needed – they knew what had to be done.

Peter let go of Opal. "Opal," he told her, "you have to leave. Now. Fortree City is right over the river – it'll be safer there. We'll help you get there."

Opal was a bit confused. "Are… are you staying here? Are you going to fight those Space Pirate things?" Peter didn't answer, but his silence was proof enough. Opal suddenly spoke with confidence. "I can help," she told them. "I'm a good trainer too you know; you don't have to leave me behind. I want to fight the Space Pirates too."

"No," said Peter. "You're not ready for this."

"Am too!" she snapped back. "You just think that because…."

She stopped mid-sentence when Tom laid a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him. "Peter's right," he told her. "You have to get to safety. You'll get hurt if you stay with us."

A look of understanding filled Opal's eyes. She nodded.

"Let's go back down the hill a little," said Tom. "We need to make sure the Pirates don't see us. I'll have Charlie here fly you across the river. He can escort you to Fortree City."

They all went down the hill in silence. When they were far down enough that the Weather Institute was out of their view, and had gone over by the river (or, rather, the cliff overlooking it), Tom spoke again. "We'll watch you go from up here, in case anything goes wrong. If there are any Pirates over there, Charlie, then bring her back to us. We'll figure out what to do from there. Both of you make sure you are NOT seen by any Space Pirates. Got it?"

Charlie nodded. So did Opal. Her face was paper-white and there was moisture forming in the corners of her eyes. "Don't get hurt, guys."

"We won't," said Peter, but of course, I could detect a lie when I heard one. Tom and Peter both knew full well that whatever happened next was out of their control.

* * *

_Author's Note: Thanks once again to OranCorn for pointing out a couple of mistakes in this chapter, which have now been fixed._


	19. Marine Cave

Samus Aran had an agonizing three days. Not because of anything she experienced, but rather, for the lack of it. Samus hated sitting by, useless, while the situation worsened around her. Perhaps that was a result of being at the center of the action so often over the years.

Her existential angst about being a video game character had to come to a halt barely after it started. The morning following the startling revelation in Professor Birch's lab, disaster struck Mossdeep City. Sadly, there wasn't anything she could do; Mewtwo had already proved too powerful for her. For now, she just had to watch events unfold and wait for someone to think of a solution.

As it happened, thinking of solutions was the Governor's strong point. He'd spent that day working one out – one that relied on her. So that evening, Samus once again found herself meeting with the Slowking Governor of the Japano Province. The Governor's office served as the meeting spot; two of his aides were in attendance.

Before even speaking, the Governor handed Samus a Pokéball. But not just any Pokéball. This one's upper half, rather than red, was purple with two pink circles; there was a large letter "M" between the circles.

The Governor allowed Samus a few seconds to inspect the ball before explaining. "It has come to my attention, Samus Aran, that you encountered the new leader of the Space Pirates, Mewtwo, the other day. I was also informed that you personally fought against Mewtwo, but were no match for his level of skill and strength. Am I correct so far?"

"You are," said Samus. She wished she didn't have to hear that experience spoken back to her.

"Then it has become obvious that Mewtwo cannot be defeated by brute force alone. His presence on Pocket, however, poses such a clear, immense threat to all life here that it cannot be ignored. We must do whatever it takes to get rid of him, even if this means resorting to risky and unorthodox tactics."

"Which is why I'm holding a Pokéball," stated Samus. It wasn't a question.

"Indeed," said the Governor. "Might you be able to guess what I'm going to ask you to do with it?

Wasn't it obvious enough? "I'm going to capture Mewtwo with it."

"You are correct. Even if we cannot defeat Mewtwo in battle, he is still a Pokémon, and Pokémon can be captured. However, it will not be that simple." Samus had doubted it would be that simple from the beginning. "To begin with, the Pokéball you hold is of the rarest type of Pokéball of all: a Master Ball. In theory, with a single throw, it can capture any Pokémon of any strength, without any need to weaken said Pokémon, under virtually any conditions. In other words, it is the ultimate Pokéball. I received several of them in a deal with the head of the Devon Corporation earlier today. We are now developing a titanium alloy casing for them in order to make them a better fit for your Arm Cannon, which you will be shooting the balls out of. The casing will also provide the Master Balls with extreme durability. However, even this will not be enough to permit a face-to-face confrontation with Mewtwo. You will need to capture him before he notices what you're doing; otherwise, even with a ball traveling as fast as a bullet and with titanium alloy protection, Mewtwo will almost certainly find a way to successfully defend himself."

"And what then?" asked Samus. "What if something goes wrong and Mewtwo finds me out?"

If the Governor had a facial expression, it would have been apologetic; Samus could feel it. "Then you will have no choice but to fight him," he said. "Did I not say that this task would be risky? Rest assured, however, that we are working to make even that worst-case scenario as safe – relatively speaking, of course – as possible. Your suit is currently missing some of its abilities, but we are working to the greatest of our abilities to fix this. The Chozo, you recently discovered, left behind many things that would be of great use to you; we're scavenging the province for more signs of their civilization. With your permission, we would like to take a mold of your armor to help us open up Chozo chambers which, like those you encountered, might be unlocked by Chozo technology. We're also trying to obtain some data the Galactic Federation used to update your suit on the B.S.L.; however, they're not eager to give up the files. It seems as though you've gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble with them." He winked at her.

Samus wasn't sure if she could take on Mewtwo with even a fully-powered suit; extreme danger was part of her job, though, so she didn't spend too much time worrying about it. "Okay, so tell me the specifics," she said. "Where am I going to find Mewtwo? When is this going to happen?"

Once again, the Governor telepathically sent an apologetic feeling. "I do not know," he said. "As of right now, there are no specifics."

Samus had to restrain herself. "You're telling me there's no plan?"

"Samus, we can only have a plan for those factors we can control. Although we are doing our best to spy on Mewtwo, we will not know when he lets his guard down until it happens. Sadly, we cannot make it happen. But isn't it just as well that we don't rush into things? Perhaps now we will have time to find more of your upgrades – and you will need time to practice shooting Master Balls from your Arm Cannon. When our opportunity arises, I will make sure you know right away."

In other words, more sitting and waiting. Samus wasn't happy about it, but what choice did she have?

* * *

There was still one thing Samus could do while she waited. She had yet to visit one last place where Unown made their home: Solaceon Ruins. These ruins could be found in a cavern near Solaceon Town, on the island region of Sinnoh. Samus, not wasting any time, flew there in her gunship almost immediately after the meeting with the Governor. She actually had her doubts that she'd be able to obtain anything useful there; still, she figured, there was no harm in trying.

After parking her ship nearby, Samus got out to enter the caves. Solaceon Ruins, unlike the Ruins of Alph or Tanoby Chambers, actually was made up of caves, carved out of the ground rather than built by Chozo architects. The way it looked inside was, therefore, notably different. Samus found it almost reminiscent of Mt. Moon. But unlike Mt. Moon, it was made up entirely of small, confined rooms joined to each other.

The very first room had an inscription in the wall with letters resembling Unown. Samus scanned the inscription to find that it was a set of directions. Directions to guide her through the maze-like ruins. Samus got right to work, muttering the directions to herself as she went from room to room. Unown floated by her at several points, but they didn't seem to take notice of her. Finally, she got to the last room mentioned in the inscription – a dead end.

Now the Unown finally took notice of her. They went through the ritual that Samus was by now familiar with – circling around her, then forming a target-like pattern on the wall with one word above it. The word, Samus's scan revealed, was "fire". That was a problem. Samus was afraid this might happen: just as she needed the Ice Beam and Wave Beam to access the previous two hidden rooms, she now needed the Plasma Beam to access this one. But she did not have the Plasma Beam. Not yet. Disappointed and frustrated, Samus was forced to turn back.

* * *

The Governor had the Master Balls, as well as their special casing, ready for Samus the following morning. Those, however, were to only be used on the real mission; for practice, she was given a number of less valuable Pokéballs, fitted with a cheaper casing. She was to practice using them by catching Pokémon the professors wanted for research. It was vital that she was completely comfortable shooting a Pokéball from her Arm Canon before having to do so to Mewtwo.

The rest of the day was spent practicing. Samus found herself all over the province, capturing all sorts of Pokémon. The Pokémon she was asked to catch got tougher and tougher as the day went on, but she got better and better at it as well. By nighttime, Samus felt confident that she was ready to capture Mewtwo if she got the chance to do so the next day.

But she did not get this chance the next day. Instead, that day, too, was mostly spent practicing. Most of it was now being done on her own, however; while the scientists were starting to feel that their job was done, Samus felt that she could never be too safe. It's not as if she had anything else to do (much to her dissatisfaction).

The monotony was briefly interrupted that evening with a special delivery from the Governor.

"We have focused most of our exploration team's efforts in areas resembling those in which you got your previous upgrades – specifically, Mt. Moon and Meteor Falls. Both are well-known for attracting an unusually large number of meteor collisions. The Whirl Islands of Johto fit this description as well. Many people believe that the four islands were split apart by a legendary Pokémon by the name of Lugia long ago; in truth, it was a large meteor which caused this to happen. These meteors are most likely responsible for the raging whirlpools which surround the islands." The Governor could almost certainly detect Samus's growing impatience, which might be why he finally got to the point. "But I digress. There is a reason I have come to you. While searching the caves of these islands, thanks to the equipment we created based on your own, we discovered this."

One of the Governor's aides put, on the floor, what looked like a light-emitting jar with moving pieces of… something inside. Samus recognized it right away. She made her Varia Suit materialize onto her. She then stepped closer to the thing on the floor, leaned down, and touched it. A light show of sorts began immediately, with many, many specks of light circling around Samus's suit, spiraling their way to it. A minute later, her suit had absorbed all of them. It was now purple at the shoulders, arms, and most of the legs. Its upgrade to the Gravity Suit was complete.

This was a huge breakthrough. Not only did the Gravity Suit provide Samus with even greater protection, it also allowed her to walk freely through water as if it were air. That, she knew from experience, could end up being extremely important. She was sure to thank the Governor for his part in retrieving it.

* * *

The day after she got her Gravity Suit, Samus's resting and sporadic practicing was once again interrupted by a call from the Governor. This time, her practicing was interrupted for good.

"We have him," said the Governor. "This is likely the best opportunity you're going to get for catching Mewtwo. Apparently, the Space Pirates have, for some time now, been searching the ocean for the Marine Cave. This cave is inhabited by one of Hoenn's most famous legendary Pokémon, Kyogre. It is mostly underwater, and can be very difficult to find – some even say that it often changes location. But that is not the issue. The Pirates have found it now, and for some reason, Mewtwo plans to go there. He is already on his way."

Samus nodded. She was ready for this now. "Where is this Marine Cave?"

"Route 127. Unfortunately, this is just to the south of Mossdeep City; that turned out to be quite a strategic location for the Pirates. I wonder if that was part of Mewtwo's plan all along? But that is not something to speculate now. Samus, as you obviously cannot park your ship on the nearest island, I advise doing so on Sootopolis instead. Preferably, do so somewhere as hidden from the Space Pirates' view as possible. From there, you must walk underwater until you reach the point I will mark for you on your map. The entrance will be underwater, but the rest of the cave will be dry."

"In other words, I'll have to use my Gravity Suit right after I got it," noted Samus. "How ironic."

* * *

The island of Sootopolis was full of rough, rocky cliffs; Samus found two of these cliffs with just enough space between them to park her ship. She made sure never to fly too close to Mossdeep as she did so. Her mission required her to remain undiscovered. Wasting no time, Samus walked into the ocean as soon as she got out of her ship.

At this point, it was a straightforward path to her destination – but it was a long one. As Samus ran, the ocean got deeper at a surprisingly fast rate. Deeper and darker. She could see a distant wild Pokémon here and there, but for the most part, it was just her, alone, running through what felt like infinite darkness. In such conditions, it would be hard not to get lost in one's own thoughts.

It really was ironic that she needed the Gravity Suit right after obtaining it. Perhaps too ironic. And the same thing had happened with the Varia Suit – she'd needed its protection on Mt. Chimney directly after getting it. Just like in her previous missions. Just like in the games. Samus couldn't help wondering: was this a game too? She felt like she couldn't be sure of anything anymore. That revelation in Birch's lab completely shook up her entire view of reality. Maybe this "Nintendo" company had made some sick, twisted crossover of two of their series; was she just acting out such a game right now? It wouldn't make any sense. Then again, nothing did anymore.

Usually, Samus would try not to get so absorbed in thought while on a mission, but the atmosphere didn't help. It was so dark and lifeless that she almost might have been closing her eyes. Eventually, that came to an end when she encountered a series of underwater pits. She was forced to jump over each pit, carefully, sometimes having to land on extremely narrow spaces between them. For Samus, it wasn't very hard. Finally, her destination was in sight. At that point, what she saw ahead made her instantly back up into the pit behind her, keeping a hold on its ledge. She raised her head so she could see while she hid.

She had expected the entrance to be guarded, but she hadn't expected Draygon. The massive, green, water-dwelling beast was one of the Space Pirate generals Samus had fought on her last trip to Zebes. Supposedly, she had killed the thing, but that never seemed to matter anymore. Apparently, for a Space Pirate, being killed was no excuse to stop being alive.

While Draygon, fortunately, did not see Samus, her presence did not go completely unnoticed. Near her, a blue Lanturn lit up the area with the two electric orbs hanging from its head. When it saw Samus, it made sure to move the orbs to keep her in darkness. This was not a wild Lanturn. The Governor, foreseeing that the Marine Cave entrance would probably be guarded, recruited a group of law-enforcement trainers who happened to possess Lanturn for this mission. Their goal was to distract the guards – although, as it turned out, there was actually only one guard – to allow Samus to enter the cave unnoticed. Samus's arrival was their cue. Suddenly, there was not one, but six Lanturn shining brightly. They swam over to Draygon, who kept a close watch on them. Then one of the Lanturn zapped the hideous, crustaceous creature and everyone stopped holding back. A vicious fight broke out; the Lanturn all electrified Draygon, who retaliated by smashing his sharp tail into them and spitting venom at them. Their goal was not to defeat Draygon, but merely to temporarily lure him away from the entrance. Hopefully, he would just think they were a rogue group of wild Pokémon and not be suspicious enough to raise an alarm. While battling, the Lanturn backed away from Draygon, who took the bait and followed them away from his post.

This was Samus's time to move. She swiftly lifted herself up from the ledge, became a morph ball, and rolled toward the Marine Cave entrance. Behind her, the battle raged on; she hoped that the Lanturn would manage to get away before things got out of hand. She couldn't worry about that now, though; there was an important task at hand. When she entered the rocky cave, she immediately looked around for possible hiding spots in case she needed them. She was very, very lucky to have found one, because she needed it right away.

Samus slid into the crack in the wall as the group of Metroids passed by. Yes, Metroids – it took Samus a second to fully accept that this was what they were. This was just getting way too bizarre. If one of them noticed her, it would all be over. So it was incredibly lucky that none of them did. Instead, they flew (swam?) out of the cave and, just like that, were all gone.

What had they been doing there in the first place? Samus didn't know, but she had a feeling that she was about to find out. She rolled out of her hiding space, transformed back to her normal state, and began climbing the cave wall. When she reached the top, she found herself emerging from the water onto dry land. In front of her was a large hole leading to the next room. She could hear voices within it. Slowly, carefully, she crawled through the hole.

Beyond the hole was a small passage; a much larger room was to the left of it. While keeping herself as hidden as possible, Samus peeked into the large room. Mewtwo was definitely there, and he was not alone. He was near the opposite end of the room, where four Space Pirates accompanied him, one of whom looked bigger and stronger than the others. They were all facing a large pool of water at the very end of the room. Inside the pool was the most stunning feature of the cave – Kyogre, in all its magnificence and enormity. It resembled a blue and white whale; only the top half of its body, as well as the tips of its two largest fins, were not submerged in the pool. But the legendary Pokémon was not moving. Mewtwo, however, was explaining that it was not yet dead.

"Killing it would upset the balance kept by the legendary trio of Hoenn," said Mewtwo. "The other two in the trio, Groudon and Rayquaza, would undoubtedly notice, and they would be more difficult to get ahold of in the chaos that would result."

"I understand," said the strong-looking Space Pirate.

"However, this will change once we neutralize Groudon and Rayquaza. When all three of them are unconscious, we can let our Metroids suck out their remaining Life Energy. We will probably need it, too; we'll need as much Life Energy as we can get. That's why our mission at the Weather Institute is so vital. Every legendary Pokémon we can find will have to be sucked dry. It won't be easy. Of course, if it were easy, it wouldn't be as fun."

Samus was taking aim at Mewtwo's back with extreme care and precision. She would only get one shot at this. Technically, she had four Master Balls at her disposal, but that was just a formality. If the first one failed, the chances of a successful second try were effectively zero.

"I know that you're wondering why we haven't left yet. There's nothing wrong with taking the time to savor a victory. What good is the victory otherwise? Gaze upon this mighty Kyogre and know that we have conquered it. Everything's going exactly as planned."

_Until now, you bastard!_ Samus thought to herself. She shot the Master Ball.

Samus watched the ball move with such intensity, it was as if time was slowing down just for her. The Master Ball zoomed towards its target, and….

It hit Mewtwo! It worked!

The Master Ball opened up!

Nothing happened.

The ball fell to the floor. It was still open. Nothing happened.

Mewtwo stepped on the Master Ball.

"You idiot."

He turned around to face Samus. "I was hoping you would be smart enough to force me to try harder. Instead you walked right into my trap. Pathetic."

Suddenly he was right behind her. He was inflicting pain on every inch of Samus's body just as quickly. He unleashed a powerful psychic force that lifted her off of her feet and into the center of the room (the Pirates all backed off to the walls to let their boss have his fun), then unleashed another, equally powerful one that slammed her against the floor.

Mewtwo floated over to Samus. "You must be wondering…" he began. Samus cut him off by firing her Ice Beam at his foot at point-blank range. The foot froze solid – Samus was as surprised about this as Mewtwo. She scurried away while Mewtwo destroyed the ice around his foot with a small blast of Phazon.

"As I was saying…" said Mewtwo as he blasted a ball of Phazon at Samus, knocking her down again, "…you must be wondering: how could the Master Ball possibly have failed?" In reality, Samus was wondering how she could possibly kill this maniac. For the moment, though, she let him talk. "Lucky for you, I'm willing to share one last secret with you before you die painfully. Try not to get too excited." With that last word, he fired several more balls of Phazon at Samus. This time, however, she was ready: with her Power Beam equipped, she fired frantically at every Phazon ball she could. It worked, somewhat: several of these balls ricocheted off of Samus's counter-fire and hit Mewtwo instead. Mewtwo, who was not happy about this, struck back with a psychic/Phazon fusion attack that pinned Samus against the wall.

"Perhaps you already know this, Hunter, but there is only one condition under which no Pokéball, even a Master Ball, can succeed. Can you guess what it is?"

Samus did not speak. She did not even move. This was Mewtwo's speech, not hers. Her focus was on the battle… and on not getting killed.

"…Too scared to speak? I don't blame you. Fine: the only way a Master Ball can fail is if the Pokémon it is used on has already been captured." Samus was about to attack, but suddenly she was interested. Mewtwo actually did attack with a beam of Phazon, but Samus jumped out of the way just in time.

"You must now be wondering: what trainer could possibly have caught me? Who managed to do such a thing?" He attempted to pin Samus against the wall with another psychic/Phazon blast; she partially dodged it, but it hit her leg, sending her tumbling to the floor. Mewtwo appeared above her, lying parallel to her, his arms holding hers against the floor. They were face to face, giving Samus a close-up view of Mewtwo's eyes. Even Ridley's eyes didn't look as devious.

As he stared her down, Mewtwo answered his own question: "I did."

Mewtwo was about to attack; Samus quickly became a morph ball and rolled under him first. As fast as she could, she transformed back to normal and gave both of Mewtwo's feet a point-blank shot of the Ice Beam. She shot missile after missile at him as he unfroze his feet, but only the first two missiles actually hit him; after that, he suddenly disappeared, reappearing behind her. As she turned around, he showered her with numerous tiny sparks of Phazon.

"You see, Hunter, I am my own master. I bend to no one else's will." Samus fired a super missile at Mewtwo; it disintegrated several feet away from him. Mewtwo continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "But can the same be said of you? After all, almost everything you've done in your life has been predetermined by a bunch of electronic games."

He knew.

Samus, for just a moment, let her guard down. But in such a fierce battle, "just a moment" was far too long; Mewtwo blasted her with a Phazon beam. Before he attacked again, the toughest (and therefore highest-ranking) Space Pirate interrupted with some news.

"Master, there's something you should know," it said nervously. "It's Kraid… he's…."

"I know EXACTLY what's going on, moron!" Mewtwo snapped. "If that big oaf can't handle a couple of pesky teenagers, that's none of my concern!"

He unleashed his anger on Samus with another wave of Phazon sparks; this time, however, Samus cleverly absorbed them into her Charge Beam and then shot the whole mass at Mewtwo. The injured Space Pirate leader was surprised, but also impressed.

"I see that you're more prepared for this than our last fight," he said. "Though I suppose that's a given, considering how much room for improvement you left yourself," he added with a snicker. "Not that it matters, in the end. In fact, let me show you exactly how meaningless all of your efforts are."

Samus wasn't about to "let" Mewtwo do anything. She circled around him, firing everything in her arsenal one at a time. None of it had any effect: Mewtwo swiped away all of her attacks like flies. Then he was out of sight. No, he was still there, but surrounded by a bright blue Phazon shell so thick that it completely hid him from view. Samus continued her assault, but none of her attacks penetrated the shell.

Several seconds later, the Phazon shell disappeared. Mewtwo now looked healthier than ever. "Do you know what I just did?" asked Mewtwo. Instead of asking, Samus continued firing at him from every possible angle, trying in vain to find a weak spot. Mewtwo casually brushed off the attacks as he talked. "While using Phazon to protect myself, I used a move called Recover. It does exactly what the name implies. Do you get it now, Hunter? Do you finally realize who you're fighting? When you try to capture me, I have already caught myself. When you have enough luck to hurt me, I recover and completely erase the damage. And while you dutifully follow the path laid out for you thousands of years ago, I have enough free will to stray from it. Keep that in mind, Hunter: I am free, and you are not."

"Will you EVER shut up?" Samus yelled. It was the first time she had spoken. "God, you're giving me a _headache_ with all this talking!"

Mewtwo laughed. "My, you're certainly eager to die. But very well – who am I to deny you your wish?"

He was about to attack when the Space Pirate spoke again. "Uh… sir? I know you're already aware of this, but the situation is…."

"Then SHUT UP!" Mewtwo shouted at the cowering Pirate. "If I have the information, then you have NOTHING to tell me, you hear? _I_ give the orders around here!" The Pirate wisely chose to keep quiet from then on.

Mewtwo then addressed Samus. "I'm on a very tight schedule, Hunter, so no more playing around. It's time to die!"

He released a wave of Phazon so enormous, an entire side of the cave wall would be blue from the residue. Samus didn't have any hope of dodging it. Then he smashed her against the blue-stained wall with a psychic attack of equal magnitude. Samus's armor was barely holding itself together at this point. She was panting from exhaustion within it, too. As she composed herself, Mewtwo was growing a huge ball of Phazon above him. The energy he exerted to do so was enough to make the whole cave shake. This was when Samus realized that Mewtwo had probably been holding back until now.

Mewtwo threw the ball of Phazon at Samus; a thin Phazon rope connected it to his hand like a tether. Samus knew that a single hit from this ball would mean death. She used every drop of energy and concentration she could muster to dodge the thing, even as Mewtwo swung it around the room in chase of her. After a series of very tricky dodges, Samus finally got herself next to Mewtwo – the one place where the Phazon ball couldn't follow her. As he realized his mistake, she shot a super missile at his head.

The ball turned into a rope; the Phazon rope wrapped snugly around Samus before she could do anything about it. Mewtwo whipped it to throw Samus at the wall. But Samus was ready for this: while being thrown, she became a morph ball and quickly planted three bombs. The explosion was enough to free her from the rope's grasp a fraction of a second before reaching the wall. Instead she jumped over Mewtwo and shot a missile at him; he was still concentrating on the rope and thus didn't avoid it.

The two of them faced each other. "I don't have time for this anymore, Hunter!" Mewtwo screamed. He released a psychic/Phazon wave that took up a large portion of the room. Samus had anticipated this, which is why she had positioned herself so close to the hallway near the entrance. She jumped into the hallway before the attack could reach her. The attack instead hit the rock walls with so much force, some of the rock actually crumbled away.

Mewtwo then appeared in the hallway next to Samus. "YOU!" he shrieked. He was no longer coherent; he had lost his cool. He shoved her back in the main room with a blast of psychic energy. Samus's visor now flashed that dreaded message: WARNING: LOW ENERGY.

When Mewtwo appeared above her, Samus became a morph ball. His Phazon attack hit the ground where her head had been as she rolled away. She un-transformed and fired a missile at Mewtwo, but the Phazon energy surrounding him destroyed it.

Mewtwo was furious that this was taking so long. He slammed the ground with a Phazon attack that sent waves of energy all across the floor. That meant that it hit his own Space Pirates, but he didn't care. All he cared about now was killing Samus as quickly as possible. However, the attack didn't work – Samus jumped over every wave Mewtwo created. Mewtwo finally gave up on that method and simply blasted another psychic/Phazon attack at her. Samus sidestepped it and retaliated with a series of missiles, all of which Mewtwo destroyed.

For a few seconds, the two of them just stood in place, staring at each other. Then Mewtwo spoke – not to Samus, but to his subordinates. "You imbeciles better finish her off, or I will _kill every one of you!_" And then he was gone.

Really – Mewtwo was no longer in the cave. He had disappeared completely. Both Samus and the Space Pirates took a second to fully absorb this fact before the two parties began fighting. Samus fought with extreme caution – she could not afford to get hit by even a single shot. As she dodged the oncoming fire, she charged up her Power Beam and shot a super missile at the largest Pirate. He was almost down; a couple of regular missiles finished the job. That left three more to go. Samus took them out, one by one, with alternating Ice Beam attacks and missiles. She got hit only once, and it was almost enough to tear apart her Power Suit. During the fight, Samus noticed something odd about her Ice Beam. Had it always been this… blue? In fact, her beam attacks appeared to get bluer and less ice-like as the battle went on. Of course, her mind was so focused on the battle that she barely gave it a moment's thought.

All four Space Pirates were down now. It definitely helped that Mewtwo had already damaged them with his own hasty attack. Samus had to leave the cave as fast as possible – Mewtwo could return at any moment. She ran down the hall, went underwater, and tried to leave through the same hole she had come in through. But something big and green blocked her way.

It was Draygon, of course. The creature spat acid at Samus, who was amazed that her armor was still – barely – intact afterwards. She immediately got back out of the water. There was not much Draygon could do to her up there, but Samus could hit it with its greatest weakness – electricity. She repeatedly shot charged Wave Beams at it. After a couple of shots, before she fired her third, she realized that Draygon was still being hurt without her doing anything. More and more electricity jolted the Space Pirate as Samus merely watched.

Draygon descended deeper into the ocean, and Samus now saw the Lanturn who was continuously attacking it. She went back underwater and leaned over the edge of the cave's entrance to see more. Draygon was completely paralyzed by all of the electricity it was being exposed to. It fell deeper and deeper into the ocean's depths. The Lanturn stopped attacking it, but it no longer needed to: there were now a group of Chinchou (Lanturn's pre-evolved form) zapping it instead. Soon, the dying Draygon was surrounded by many wild Pokémon of many varieties. Apparently, the area's inhabitants had not taken kindly to this ugly beast haunting their waters. Now its giant carcass would provide them with food for days to come.

The Lanturn indicated to Samus to grab onto its back. Samus obeyed. The blue Pokémon swam them away from the scene, and for once, Samus was able to relax. She realized then that she'd spent the last minute struggling to stay conscious. She found that she was no longer able to do so.


	20. The Weather Institute

Tom and Peter anxiously awaited their flying Pokémon's return. Opal had ridden on Charlie's back to cross the river, but Peter decided to send Murkrow to accompany her too, just in case.

"Dexter, did you know about any of this?" Tom asked.

"Er, sort of," I admitted. "I think the authorities had been withholding the information, probably to avoid the same type of situation that led to the massacre at Mossdeep. Of course, that kind of information can only stay secret for so long. But by the time reports began leaking and people began suspecting that something had happened, we were already very close to the Weather Institute. I considered informing you, but there was no certainty, and it wouldn't have made much difference anyways – you were almost there."

"So they kept this a secret because they didn't want us to fight," Tom stated darkly. "What do they want us to do, give up? Are they even going to send anyone here?"

"Don't forget about all those people killed at Mossdeep," Peter said in a hushed voice. "Tom… are you sure you want to go through with this? We could end up just like them. Especially if that Mewtwo guy shows up – he looked really tough."

"There's no way I'm going to turn around now," Tom answered. "I mean… it's just that…." He spent a few seconds in thought. "Okay, maybe there's no logical reason for it. But after all we've been through, after all those times I fought against the Pirates before, I can't bring myself to do nothing when they're _right there_. But… if you think we should leave, I understand."

"Oh, hell no!" said Peter. "I was just making sure _you_ didn't want to!"

They watched as Charlie and Murkrow flew back to them. "Is Opal safe? Is she in Fortree?" Tom asked. Charlie nodded yes on both accounts. "Good. Then it's time to get this thing started."

"We need to attack them before they notice us," said Peter. "A sneak attack will give us the upper hand."

"Um… I'm not sure about that," said Tom.

Peter and Manny both gave him funny looks. "Why not?" asked Peter.

"It's just… that doesn't feel right. _They're_ the ones who start fights. We don't even really know what they're up to. If they see us first and _they_ attack, we'll fight back, but for us to just…."

"Tom!" Manny interrupted him. "You think you'll feel bad if you pick a fight? Well, imagine how much worse you'll feel if your Pokémon die in front of you because you want to play nice with these creeps. This isn't just for fun anymore – we're at war now. And losing doesn't just mean defeat anymore – it means death. So we're going to need every little advantage we can get to make that as unlikely as possible. Got it?" He wasn't exactly enraged, but it was still the firmest I'd ever seen him be toward Tom.

"Yeah," added Peter, "and those Space Pirates picked the fight a long while ago. They almost killed my sister, remember? They deserve what we're gonna give them."

"You're both right," said Tom, looking at the ground. "Sorry about that. It was... just a passing thought." He took his eyes off of the ground and on the Weather Institute. "Okay, let's plan our surprise attack."

* * *

There turned out to be eight total Space Pirates guarding the building: four on the ground, and four more on the roof. The Institute itself was surrounded by very tall grass, trees, and hills; its back faced the bottom of a rocky cliff. But it was a nearby patch of tall grass that all eight Pirates were soon focusing on. Something within the grass started zapping them with huge jolts of electricity. Two somethings, actually: Ralph and Magneton. But the Pirates couldn't see them within the grass. At the same time, Kim and Vaporeon, who were hidden in another nearby patch of grass, blasted water at the Pirates; this made the electrical attacks even more deadly. The ground guards split up, with two of them running over to each patch of grass; they fired into the grass as they ran, but since their targets were so well hidden, that did no good.

Many things happened at once. Firstly, as soon as the Pirates were in close range, they were given the beating of their lives. Near the electric-types, Manny gave them a taste of his fists while Golem gave them a taste of her rocks; the two Pirates near the water-types were subject to Torterra and Umanda, who attacked them with everything in their arsenal. Umanda's first move was to surprise them by popping out of the ground – she'd been taught Dig via T.M. Ralph, Magneton, Kim, and Vaporeon all continued attacking as well. Albert had used Reflect to protect both groups, and was now Psybeaming the guns of all four Pirates; his job was to reduce the damage done to other Pokémon as much as possible. While all of this was happening, Charlie took advantage of the distraction. He'd been hiding in the trees that all of the Pirates now had their back to. He flew over to the Space Pirates on the roof – who were helping their comrades fight off the ground forces – and covered them with a Smokescreen. He then began attacking them with Flamethrower; he was quickly joined by two others: Murkrow and Jeffrey. Jeffrey in particular caught the most attention from these Pirates, who seemed to be horrified of him; they concentrated their fire at him the moment he rammed his spiky body into one of them. This worked to their disadvantage: they were too focused on Jeffrey to avoid the oncoming attacks of Charlie and Murkrow, who made sure to defend the Alpha Metroid however they could.

The ground operation went off without a hitch – unsurprising, considering that the Pirates had been outnumbered two to one. Charlie, Murkrow, and Jeffrey were on the receiving ends of some gunfire, but thanks to the Smokescreen, not too much to handle. Then the roof was bombarded with leaves, water, electricity, fire, and everything that all of their Pokémon with long-range attacks could contribute. The Pirates up there were toast in no time.

"Regroup!" Tom shouted as he and Peter rose from their hiding place in the grass. All of their Pokémon stepped over the Space Pirate corpses to gather around their owners. Or rather, all of them except for two. Jeffrey, who was still on the roof, and Kim, who was still in the grass close to the river, were both glowing white. Their owners watched in wonder as both of them evolved. Kim became a Seadra; she was much bigger than before, and now had tougher and spikier skin as well. Jeffrey had become a Gamma Metroid; his carapace now covered more of his weak, exposed membrane, and his claws were almost large enough to be limbs.

Kim slid, and Jeffrey floated, over to the others. Kim nudged Charlie when she reached him; Charlie, who had finally caught on to the fact that she reveled in his encouragement, gave her a congratulatory roar. Peter hugged his spiky Metroid friend, who just floated in place and faintly screeched.

The Space Pirates inside the building were, in all likeliness, expecting them to come through the door at any moment. Which is why they went through the windows instead. The Weather Institute's walls were almost entirely covered by large, tinted glass windows. They couldn't see inside, but the Space Pirates inside could see them. So they had to act quickly. Jeffrey smashed through one of the windows at the building's side with the spikes on his head. It looked like any other office building… minus all of the gun-carrying Space Pirates. Charlie immediately used Smokescreen on every Pirate in sight. Near him were Torterra and Golem, both of whom shook the place up with a double Earthquake attack – neither Jeffrey nor Charlie were harmed, as they could fly over it.

But the attack was not limited to one front. On the other side of the building, another window shattered to pieces. This time it was Manny's doing… and with him were the rest of the Pokémon, as well as the two trainers themselves. Now the real battle began.

Such a large battle in such a confined space was bound to be very chaotic. The room was soon filled with attacks of all varieties. Tom and Peter, the two weakest living things in the room, needed cover; they improvised by hiding in a corner, behind a desk, with Manny and Golem – two large, bulky Pokémon – standing in front of them while throwing rocks. They made sure to keep their eyes on the battle, though, and point and shout to direct attacks at any Pirate they saw as being particularly exposed. The smaller Pokémon were doing much better – they could easily hide in hard-to-reach spaces and continue attacking undisturbed. In between Psybeams, Albert was using Reflect on every ally he could reach. Meanwhile, Umanda hid under a desk, using Confuse Ray on each individual Pirate. This might've been the most effective move of all: not only did it make many Pirates too confused to attack right, some of them were so confused, they actually attacked their fellow Pirates.

The Weather Institute was a two-story building; Pirates from the second floor were blasting holes in the ceiling to come down and join the fight. Overall, there were eleven Space Pirates fighting – just one less than the number of Pokémon they were fighting against. Tom kept much of his attention focused on Kim, his weakest Pokémon. She was holding up pretty well, all things considered. She used Surf after Surf on the whole crowd of Pirates, despite how exposed it made her; she attacked with no hesitation or timidity. The Pirates had confusion, vision-impairing smoke, and often paralysis working against them, so it took them a while to shoot her enough times to defeat her. Still, eventually they did, and Kim was the first Pokémon to faint in the battle. By then, two of the Space Pirates had been killed. Murkrow (Peter's weakest Pokémon) was the second Pokémon to go down, as, simultaneously, another Space Pirate did. Tom and Peter were both extremely fast to withdraw their fainted Pokémon. Should they just be left in the battlefield, unconscious, they would be at great risk of getting killed.

One by one, the Space Pirates went down. They didn't have much of a chance, really – they were being assaulted on all sides by a very organized foe that had afflicted them with every disadvantage possible. I could feel a tiny spark of satisfaction within Tom's veins every time he saw another Space Pirate kick the bucket; it was just small enough to not distract him, but it was there. Mostly, though, he kept in his focused battle mode, now underscored by some heavy nervous tension. His Pokémon's lives were on the line, after all.

Jeffrey was the third Pokémon to go down, which was understandable. Many Pirates had spent more time attacking him than anyone else. No doubt they recognized him as a Metroid and were horrified to see one fighting against them. However, by the time he fainted, only six Pirates were left standing. And that number was decreasing faster with each fatality. One got hit in the head with a large rock; now there were five. Another couldn't handle a final electrical shock; now there were four. So the battle went, until….

It was over. The floor was littered with Space Pirate corpses. They had only taken down three of Tom and Peter's Pokémon; the others suffered some minor injuries, but nothing serious. Many of them (especially the little ones) hadn't gotten hurt at all. Only now did Tom's eyes rest on the dead human bodies scattered around the room. "Disgusting," he muttered. The poor scientists had just been doing their jobs when the Pirates came in and slaughtered them.

"I think we should go upstairs," suggested Peter. "There's not much to see here, anyways."

Tom agreed. The two of them, followed by nine Pokémon, ascended the staircase. What they found on the second floor was a bit of a surprise: on the opposite side of the room, one Space Pirate still remained. That didn't last long, as all nine Pokémon immediately lunged at it with everything they had before it even knew what was happening. Soon it was as dead as its colleagues.

The Pirate had been attending to some sort of computer with a very big monitor; the screen took up a large portion of the wall. Tom and Peter looked at it. It appeared to be displaying a map of Hoenn, one that was completely marked with symbols, many of which obviously represented weather conditions.

"I don't get it," said Tom. "What were they doing here?"

"From the looks of it, maybe they just wanted to check the weather," quipped Peter.

They inspected the computer for a few moments. "Hey Dexter," said Tom, "do you think you could…."

"_WATCH OUT!_" Manny shouted. Tom and Peter each found themselves in one of Manny's arms. The other two arms were used to demolish a nearby window. He instantly jumped out the window, gracefully landing on the ground one story below; only then did he release Tom and Peter from his grasp.

"What was that foooooooouuuuuhhh…." Tom never finished his question – the sight of the sixty-foot-tall monster in front of him took away his remaining breath.

To call it "huge" would be a massive understatement. Not only was this thing about as tall as a six-story building, it was every bit as wide as one, too. And that's not counting its big, fat, long tail (which _had_ to be that big to give the colossal creature any hope of keeping balance). It was mostly green and scaly, but with a pale, smooth belly, complete with three large belly buttons. It had spikes all over its head, as well as some on its back, tail, and a one in each belly button. Its enormous foot now occupied the space where Tom and Peter had stood moments earlier.

Tom, Peter, and Manny were near the forest next to the Weather Institute; they crouched down and each hid behind one of the trees. "What… what is that?" Tom asked in a whisper.

"It's Kraid," I informed him. "A Space Pirate general. He's supposedly dead, but they must have revived him, because there he is."

The rest of Tom and Peter's Pokémon had escaped (after all, they hadn't been the ones busy staring at a monitor). They scurried over to the forest as fast as possible, keeping themselves out of Kraid's sight; many of them had to crash through the windows on the other side to do this. Kraid looked into the building (which was now missing a wall), but presumably only saw human and Space Pirate corpses inside.

Four Pirate Aerotroopers landed on the Weather Institute's second floor; they were like the other Pirates, but their armor had a jet pack that allowed them to fly. Two small aircraft landed next to the building, and three Space Pirates came out of each of them.

The following conversation is translated from the Space Pirate language, meaning that, among those of us hiding in the woods, only I understood it.

"Kraid, you big clumsy lizard!" shouted one of the Pirate Aerotroopers. "You almost stepped on the weather tracker! The whole operation would have been ruined!"

"Don't talk down to me!" roared Kraid, though given his height, the Aerotrooper would have had to fly pretty high before it could do that. "The thing's still there, so stop complaining and get to work!"

"Who could have done this?" asked one of the regular Pirate Troopers, looking at all of the Pirate corpses around it. "The last team was completely wiped out!"

"Serves them right," said Kraid. "I hated those guys." He looked around one more time. "There isn't even anyone here. I might as well take my _clumsiness _somewhere else, since it's bothering you so much." He turned around. This was no small ordeal. He had to position his tail very carefully to prevent it from knocking down the building entirely. Then he started walking away. He stomped his way through the very same forest we were all hiding in (the trees in his path never stood a chance); only a few trees separated our hiding spot from the monster's track.

"Where's he going?" whispered Tom.

"I don't know," I said. "That conversation didn't reveal much."

"We have to follow him," said Tom. "We can't let him get away!"

Peter was surprised. "Tom, are you seeing this thing? He's gigantic! There's no way we can win against him!"

"We have to try," said Tom. "If he gets away, think of how much destruction he could cause wherever he goes. All he needs to do is step foot in some city somewhere and everything around him will be demolished. I can't let that happen."

"What about the Pirates in the building now?" Peter still sounded uncertain.

"They can wait," said Tom, and then he ran off. His Pokémon followed him to the trail of knocked-down trees behind Kraid.

"This must be real ironic, huh?" mumbled Peter. A second later, he followed Tom as well.

For a short while, they attempted to catch up with Kraid, which wasn't easy. The big, lumbering beast was too heavy to walk very fast, but it compensated for this by covering a lot of ground with each individual step. But then there was oncoming Pirate fire from behind them, and they were forced to stop in their tracks.

Nine Space Pirates were advancing on them – four Aerotroopers and five regular Troopers. "Where do you think you're going?" asked one of the Aerotroopers, not that Tom or Peter could understand it. They only understood that they had to fight these things right now. Judging by Tom's increased anxiety, they also understood that this gave them a small chance of catching up to Kraid, who was still walking away.

The knocked-over forest immediately became a battlefield. Charlie flew from target to target, setting up a smokescreen and dodging enemy fire. Ralph and Umanda used the fallen trees as cover; they shocked and confused their foes, respectively. Vaporeon hid as well, spitting out water that helped spread Ralph's and Magneton's attacks further. Albert went from ally to ally, setting up a Reflect barrier. He took his defensive role very seriously: one shot was headed straight for Golem (who, with Manny, was guarding the trainers), and he jumped in front of her to take it. It was the last shot he could take. Tom quickly withdrew him.

Not only were the Pokémon slightly outnumbered, but they were also hurt and tired from their last battle. One of the Pirates went down, but then Magneton had to be withdrawn as well. Things were looking bleak….

Until, out of nowhere, a Milotic wrapped around one of the Pirates.

Other Pokémon came out of nowhere too. A Flareon blasted one Pirate with flames; a Meganium poured PoisonPowder on another. The Pirates were forced to turn around to face a new foe: April and her team had come. A bicycle lay on its side next to her.

"Keep chasing that big green thing!" she said in between orders. "I've got these guys covered!"

"No way!" said Peter. "We're not leaving you behind!"

"I don't… Sudowoodo, to your left! I don't need your help!" April shouted. I'd never seen her so furious; not as in angry, but rather… intense. "I can take these guys! Bayleef, use Petal Dance! I can do _anything you can_, Peter!"

"But…."

"It's getting away! _GO!_"

That last word was so forceful, they practically had no choice. "I'll kill her if she gets hurt," Peter muttered as they ran over the crushed trees in chase of the giant green Space Pirate.

Kraid was too fast for their little human legs to catch up to... but not too fast for their Pokémon. So Tom got on Charlie's back and told Peter to get on Manny's back; his legs fit neatly between Manny's two sets of arms. Charlie spread his wings and took to the air as Tom hung onto him for dear life. Below him, the forest seemed to spread out endlessly; the path of destruction that followed Kraid was like a line directing them to him. A thought occurred to me. "If you're going to attack him, aim for the eyes," I said. "That's his weak point. His mouth is too, if he opens it."

"Thanks," said Tom. He made Charlie descend for a moment so he could relay this information back to Peter.

Tom and Charlie were the first ones to catch up to Kraid. Charlie made a swift U-turn around Kraid's head, blowing a Flamethrower at Kraid's eyes as he flew. The beast had three red eyes – two where you'd expect them, and a third one on his forehead. He made a swipe at Charlie with the big, sharp claws at the end of his skinny arm, but thankfully wasn't fast enough.

Then two Pokémon popped out of the ground in front of Kraid: Golem and Umanda, who had been Digging the way over to him. Kraid spat rock-hard objects at them, but they dodged the attack. Golem threw back some rocks of her own, while Umanda sent a Dark Pulse up to the creature's head. Manny, Ralph, Vaporeon, and Torterra then caught up and joined the fight.

Now Kraid realized that this group might pose a real threat against him, and he fought with everything he had. He spit more projectiles at them; the claws on his arms detached to act as projectiles too; the spikes in his belly flew out to attack them as well. The claws and belly-spikes were regrown within seconds of detachment, allowing him to use them again. Most Pokémon dodged these attacks; the slowest among them, however, also happened to be the toughest, so those who couldn't get out of the way were still standing afterwards.

Thunderbolts, rocks, and razor-sharp leaves easily made their way to Kraid's face, striking him in the mouth whenever he opened it to attack. Tom looked at Umanda, who wasn't doing so well at hitting Kraid with her Dark Pulses. He got an idea. "Manny!" he shouted from Charlie's back (they were on the ground now; Charlie and Manny were both being extra careful to avoid getting hit, for obvious reasons). "Do you think you could throw Umanda up at this guy's head?"

"You bet!" said Manny. He ran over to Umanda, picked her up, and threw her at Kraid's head. Kraid tried to shoot his belly-spikes at her on her way up, but they all missed. Manny's aim was perfect: Umanda hit Kraid right at the third eyeball. She then began attacking this eyeball. Kraid roared in pain (the other Pokémon took the opportunity to attack him in the mouth). He smashed his arm into his head, but Umanda dodged it.

"Try it with Vaporeon!" Peter said into Manny's ear (still clinging to the Machamp's neck). Manny did so, and once again, his aim was perfect. Now Kraid had two Pokémon on his face to worry about. He focused entirely on his efforts to crush them, meaning that the other Pokémon could continue attacking him without worry. Tom was even bold enough to make Charlie fly up to the creature's mouth and blow some flames into it.

But Umanda and Vaporeon couldn't avoid Kraid's wrath forever. He finally crushed both of them between his claws and his face, and they went tumbling towards the ground when he lifted his claws. Tom and Peter withdrew them before either of them hit the ground.

Kraid's skin was getting darker. This was a good sign. Then the beast turned around, swinging its enormous tail across a huge radius. It was not an easy thing to dodge. Charlie flew over it; Manny jumped over it; Golem dug under it; Ralph hid in Golem's hole. Torterra wasn't so lucky. He'd been hit plenty of times already, so the tail knocked him out in no time. Peter quickly put him back into his Pokéball.

Then Kraid started walking away. "Hey!" Tom shouted. "Get back here, you coward!" Kraid responded by shooting a spike out of his back that Tom and Charlie narrowly avoided. "Go!" said Tom, and Charlie took off in chase of the beast, along with the other three remaining Pokémon.

But the chase was cut short (again). Out of the sky, eight attackers landed between Kraid and the Pokémon. Four of them were Pirate Aerotroopers; the other four were Kihunters, the winged, bug-like allies of the Space Pirates. Tom clenched his teeth. Eight against four was not good math. The Pirates aimed their weapons….

Something else came down from the sky. That something was a Skarmory. There was someone on its back. That someone was Jude Tutino.

The Pirates were forced to divert their fire to the new group of Pokémon appearing before them: Jude sent out his Swampert, Gengar, Snorlax, Jolteon, and Arcanine in addition to the Skarmory.

"I've got these goons covered," Jude said to Tom and Peter as his Pokémon fought. "You guys keep going."

They didn't need to be told twice. Tom, Peter, and the four Pokémon went around the battle to follow Kraid once more.

Charlie once again made a risky U-turn around Kraid's head to attack his eyes; once again, he dodged Kraid's attacking arm. Manny tried something even riskier. In one of his four hands, he held one of the giant belly-spikes Kraid had tried to use against him. When Manny caught up to the monster, he jumped onto its back and started climbing it, using its many ridges as footholds and grips. Peter was still on his back, but he didn't appear to be scared about this plan at all. Meanwhile, Charlie, Golem, and Ralph were all doing their best to give Kraid hell.

Kraid's skin got darker yet. His pale belly was turning yellow; his green scales were getting reddish, and many of them were falling off. Blood oozed out from behind these fallen scales. His body was going into overdrive.

Kraid finally managed to hit Charlie with one of his detached claws. It sliced his belly, leaving a gaping, bleeding wound. But Charlie persisted. So did Manny, who had now reached Kraid's head. When Charlie used Flamethrower on the beast's eyes again, Kraid screamed in pain – and Manny stuck the huge spike in his mouth. Kraid was horrified to find that his mouth could no longer close. The Pokémon all aimed their attacks into it while Kraid reached in his mouth to pull the spike out.

Although Kraid only had four opponents, it was difficult to fight any more than one of them at a time. Eventually, though, there were only three: one of the claws hit Ralph, finally causing the Pikachu to faint. Tom withdrew him. By now, though, Kraid was in a very bad state. Blood was oozing out of his mouth, and his scales were falling off faster than ever. "It's working," Tom said excitedly. "We can do this!"

That's when Mewtwo appeared.

A strong Psychic attack not only knocked Charlie unconscious, but also knocked Tom off of his back. They had been flying just above Kraid's head, meaning that he fell more than sixty feet down. People usually die from falls of that height. Tom survived for a few reasons. Before hitting the ground, he fell through some branches on a tree that Kraid had knocked over; some of the momentum from his fall was transferred to snapping the branches. He managed to land on his side, and he rolled slightly after the impact. Nonetheless, dozens of bones were shattered, and several of his organs were severely damaged. To say nothing of the mind-numbingly intense pain he experienced. I could feel his nerves screaming out in agony inside of him. It might've been the first time I really felt sorry for him. It might've also been the first time I truly admired him: despite the excruciating pain he was in, he was still dedicated to quickly withdrawing Charlie and Manny, both of whom Mewtwo had easily knocked out. Peter had fallen to the ground as well, and like Tom, had survived and was now lying on his back. He withdrew Golem before Mewtwo could do more than make her faint.

Mewtwo floated over to a spot between the two boys. "You pests interrupted me from something very important," he told them. He swiped his arm to deliver another blast of psychic energy to each of them; Tom shouted in pain, personifying the millions of nerves inside him.

"Yet in the end, you accomplished nothing. And now you'll die right here, painfully, without anything to show for it."

He lifted his arms. I quickly went through my list of options, but this only confirmed what I already knew: there was nothing I could do. I just had to watch from Tom's pocket and hope for the highly improbable. Yes, I, a rational machine, had been reduced to _hoping_.

"Your deaths will be as pointless as your pitiful lives." And Mewtwo blasted each boy with a psychic/Phazon attack.

The attack was powerful enough to kill both boys on the spot. Or rather, it would have been, had it hit them. Instead it hit the ground where they had just been lying. The boys were actually in the air above Mewtwo. Understandably, Tom was confused. "Nuh…?"

"It's okay," said Latios. "You are safe with us. We were watching you, courageous warriors. We were not going to let you get killed."

"You may rest on our backs," said Latias. "I promise that you will not fall off."

"Buh," Tom responded, and he finally let go of the consciousness he had spent so much effort clinging onto.

I guess my hoping worked.


	21. Fortree Hospital

"…Guh?"

Tom had finally woken up; it took him long enough. Understandably, he was confused at first – I imagine that waking up in the hospital is not an experience he was used to. (The Fortree City Hospital, to be specific.) Peter was awake too, in another bed a short distance from Tom's.

"Tom? Are you finally up?" Peter inquired.

"Huh? Oh… yeah, I think so."

"Tom, I'm gonna need your help here. My memory's kinda blurry, and I can't decide what really happened and what I just dreamed up."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, when we fought our way into the Weather Institute, and used our Pokémon to kill all of the Space Pirates inside. That really happened, right?"

"Yeah, I remember that too. It was real."

"I thought so. But after that it gets fuzzier. I sorta remember a gigantic green thing from space smashing stuff up, and then we went and fought him instead. Was that real too?"

"I remember it, so… probably."

"And then some white thing came and almost killed us, but a couple of Pokémon saved us just in time… that wasn't something I dreamed up either?"

"Nope."

"Oh. And that thing with all those naked chicks in that hot tub?"

"That must have been a dream."

"Darn. That was the best part."

Tom chuckled. He looked at his body to get accustomed to its new state. Most of it was bandaged up. His right arm and leg were completely in casts, to the point where he couldn't move them at all. With his left arm, he felt around under his blanket. "Hey… where's Dexter?" He remembered me. I was honestly touched.

"I'm right here, you unobservant nitwit," I said from the small table next to his bed. His Pokéballs were on the table, too, and his backpack was leaning against it on the floor.

"Hey Dexter," said Peter, "What was that white thing that attacked us? And what were those Pokémon who saved us? Also what time is it?"

I answered in no particular order. "It's approximately four o'clock in the morning. Your saviors were Latios and Latias, Hoenn's legendary Eon Pokémon. And your attacker was Mewtwo, the new leader of the Space Pirates, who isn't really white so much as he's…."

I stopped talking when a nurse entered the room. "Oh, you're both awake!" the woman said in pleasant surprise. "You two were out of it all day, you know. There's a couple of visitors who have been waiting a long time to see you. But I'm afraid they'll have to wait a few minutes longer!" Smiling, she poked and prodded them with a variety of medical instruments to conduct a series of tests.

"So, uh, how bad is it?" Tom asked as he was being prodded.

The nurse then went through the extensive list of bones he had broken and organs that had been damaged. Then she did the same for Peter. She delivered all of this morbid information with a smile on her face, one which she apparently never wiped off. "But my, you boys were lucky. I mean, a fall of more than fifty feet _and_ two Psychic attacks? It's a miracle you both survived!"

Tom grunted; he must not have felt very lucky. But then something occurred to him. "Wait… how did you find that out?"

"A certain lovely lady told us," said the nurse. "One of the ladies in the waiting room waiting to see you. And if these tests keep going as well as they are, I might just let her."

Tom looked like he was about to ask something but breathed out instead, deciding not to. I assume he was about to ask how April knew what had happened. That was okay – he'd find out about my helpful contribution soon enough.

"Kids as young and inexperienced as you trying to play hero… that was pretty stupid if you ask me," said the happy nurse. "But hey, who did ask me? I don't stop people from doing stupid things. I just help get them healed up afterwards."

The tests all went to the nurse's satisfaction. When she was finished with them, she left the room. She came back a minute later with two more people: April and Opal.

Each girl took turns hugging each boy, as well as telling them how worried they'd been and other such sappy drivel. Peter was surprised enough that his sister had hugged him, but then April not only hugged him too, she kissed him on the cheek as well. April seemed about as surprised she had done it as Peter. Both of them blushed and looked away. Tom hadn't noticed – Opal was hugging him so hard, the nurse had to actually pry her away to prevent a relapse. His body was very fragile at the moment.

"Omigosh I can't believe all that stuff happened to you it must have been so horrible!" Opal rambled.

"It was no big deal," said Peter.

"What are you talking about?" Tom asked in shock. "I've never felt worse pain in my whole life!"

"Well, yeah. I just wanted to sound tough about it."

Tom sighed. "Hey April," he said, "how did you…."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment," Peter interrupted. "What's _that_?"

He was pointing to some white bandages under April's sleeve, wrapped around her arm. "Oh, this thing?" she said, and she pulled up her sleeve to show that the bandages went up to her shoulder. "A battle wound. One of those Space Pirate assholes decided to shoot at me instead of my Pokémon. It took a chunk out of my arm, too – but it's a good thing it was just my arm." She seemed somewhat excited to be sharing this.

Peter was not as amused. "I knew something like this would happen! Why did you tell us to leave, huh? And… why did I listen?"

"Who are you to talk Peter?" Opal lashed out. "You told me you guys wouldn't get hurt and look at you now!" That was true enough, though by this point I really wished this girl would use some punctuation.

"Calm down, Peter," huffed April. "I'll have you know that my Pokémon killed every one of those Space Pirates, including the one still in the Weather Institute, with two-thirds of the team left standing."

Peter did calm down. "Really?"

"Yes, really." She looked at him suspiciously. "And why are you so surprised about that, hmm? You would've been able to handle it easily, so why not me?"

"I… uh…." Peter stuttered. It was the first time I'd ever heard him stutter.

"Come on, say it."

"It's just that… they're Space Pirates, you know, and in the past…."

"This isn't the past, is it Peter?" April said as if she were lecturing him. "It's the present, so let's just put the past behind us and move on."

"Okay, fine," said Peter, who sounded more than happy to.

"Besides," said April, "I only got to fight nine Pirates, if you count that last one. You guys killed like, what, twenty?" (Twenty-one, to be exact.)

"Yeah," said Tom, "but we always outnumbered them when we fought them. You had to take on eight Pirates with only six Pokémon."

"Is that so?" said April, who sounded very happy to hear this. "So I did something that you guys didn't!"

"Don't get too cocky," warned Peter. "We weakened some of those Pirates before you came to finish them off, remember?"

"That's true," she admitted. "I guess that makes us even."

"Hey guys?" said Opal. "Wasn't Tom about to ask something?"

Tom had actually forgotten. "Oh yeah," he said. "April – you're the one who told the hospital what happened to us, right?" she nodded. "So how did you know?"

"I told her," I said.

Normally it's against my policy to talk out loud in front of strangers, but in this case I didn't see why not. The nurse, who had been silently letting the kids have their talk up until now, looked at me with strange eyes. "Who said that?" she asked.

"Don't ask," Tom grumbled.

The nurse smiled even wider than before. "Gee, I sure hear that phrase a lot in this business!"

"It's true," April confirmed. "After I got my arm dealt with here, I called you, but since you were in surgery, Dexter answered instead. He told me everything that had happened. I told the doctors about it later."

"It's not as if this is the first time I've done something useful," I noted.

"You're right," Tom admitted, "it isn't. Thanks, Dexter."

It was around then that Tom and Peter realized how hungry they were. They hadn't eaten a single thing since breakfast the previous morning. While it was unorthodox to have a meal at such an early hour, they were too hungry to care, and the nurse brought plate after plate to them. April and Opal stayed for a while. They told the boys an important piece of news regarding the struggle against the Pirates: Mossdeep City had been taken back. Somehow, around the same time that Tom and Peter were fighting Space Pirates themselves, a few of the city's best trainers managed to eliminate every single one of them in the Space Center. They weren't clear on the details yet.

Eventually, the girls' lack of sleep caught up with them. April practically had to carry a half-conscious Opal out of the room so that they could go to a Pokémon Center and get some rest. As soon as they left, Tom and Peter fell back asleep as well.

* * *

Tom had just spent about fifteen hours unconscious, so his sleep was not a consistent one. He kept waking up, fidgeting, and then falling back to sleep, only to repeat the cycle all over again. He was in the awake portion of the cycle at the crack of dawn (though he didn't know when it was, since his room lacked windows) when the nurse stepped in. When she realized that Tom was awake, she turned on the light for his side of the room (Peter's side was now separated by a curtain).

"You're awake!" said the nurse, stating the obvious. "That's good, because there's someone else here to see you."

"What? Who?"

"It's your mom! I'll bring her in here now."

The nurse left the room; she didn't hear Tom's squeaky "Eep!" of discomfort. His face went red, and he pulled his blanket up to cover half of it. He had suddenly become completely alert, despite having been asleep just a few minutes earlier. The boy was actually _shivering_. Tom had fearlessly faced off against a Space Pirate the size of a small mountain, but the thought of having to confront his own mother filled him with terror.

As soon as Martha Tasby arrived, she barraged her injured son with hugs and kisses. "Oh thank goodness, thank goodness you're still okay," she said, almost sobbing. "You're a mess, but you're okay."

Once the tearful reunion phase ended, the inquisition began. "Is it true what they told me, Thomas? Did you really battle all of those Space Pirates?"

"Yes, Mom," Tom said, pulling up his blanket to cover himself a bit more, "it's true. All of it."

His mother gave his face a curious look, as if she was inspecting it. "You came to Hoenn at about the same time Space Pirates started showing up all over the region. Why, you came here just to fight the Pirates, didn't you?"

Tom went completely red. He had told his mother that he went to Hoenn to catch some of the Pokémon native to it. "We went there when we heard about some Space Pirates in Meteor Falls. I'm really sorry I lied to you." I noticed that he apologized for lying about it, but not for the act itself.

Martha Tasby smiled. "You're just like your father, Thomas; have I ever told you that?"

Clearly, this was not the reaction Tom had expected. "N…no, you haven't."

"I suppose I've never admitted it to myself. But really, it's been obvious all along. Even when you were little, you were obsessing over Pokémon training and defeating evil teams and whatnot. I tried to tell myself it was just a phase, and that you'd grow out it of eventually, but deep down I knew the truth. You're every bit as reckless and adventurous as Jacob was." She rustled her son's hair. "He would have been proud of you."

Tom was speechless. His mother continued. "When Jacob got his job as a field researcher, we both knew about the risks. I'll admit that I was a little uncomfortable about it. But what was I to do? Oh, sure, I could have told him to get a safer job, and I'm positive he would have done so before I'd even finished telling him. But what kind of wife would that have made me? Jacob would never, ever have been happy at a desk job; that's simply not the kind of person he was. I would have hated myself if I'd forced him to sacrifice his happiness for me. I'm glad I didn't… even to this day, knowing what happened. I'm glad that he pursued his dreams… even if, in the end, he got unlucky." She rustled Tom's hair again. "I won't stop you from pursuing your dreams, either."

"So… you're not mad at me?"

"Thomas, I'm furious!" she answered, in contrast to her calm tone and expression. "But what does that matter? I know that I can't control you anymore. Not since you walked out the door that morning two weeks ago… goodness, can you believe it's only been just over two weeks? You've made it so far, Thomas, in so little time. I can't stop you from doing anything like I used to. And even if I tried, what good would that be? You'd still be the same person inside; I'll never be able to change that. Nobody will ever be able to change that except you. If you really want to fight Space Pirates or do some other crazy, dangerous thing, you will, no matter how mad about it I get. Just, please… try not to die, okay?"

"Okay, Mom. I'll do my best to stay alive."

"Your best is all that I can ask of you." She chuckled. "Thomas, you have to introduce me to your Pokémon sometime. They must be quite strong to have defeated as many Space Pirates as they did."

"Yeah, they're the best."

It wasn't until his mother left that Tom discovered that Peter had been secretly awake the whole time. "Tom… I never knew," said Peter. "About your dad, I mean."

"It's not exactly something I go around advertising," said Tom.

"I'm sorry, dude."

"Don't be. I was only four when he died. I barely even remember him."

* * *

Tom and Peter spent that entire day in their hospital beds. It's not as if they could go anywhere else with all those broken limbs. They were asleep on and off all day at random intervals. Family (and April) came and left in an equally random fashion, including Peter's parents, who had come to Fortree City not long after Tom's mother. Of course, April found out about Tom's lack of father eventually. She was bound to be curious why his mother was visiting him, and no one else. That scene played out pretty much the same way it had with Peter.

The hospital allowed each boy to have one Pokémon out at any given time, so Tom and Peter rotated through their teams throughout the day. When Tom's mother visited again around noon, Tom went through with his promise to show her his Pokémans. (Er… I mean, Pokémon.)

Jeffrey was out on Peter's side; he got some strange looks from Tom's mother. Jeffrey looked back and quietly screeched. "I've never seen a Pokémon like that before," she said. "What species is it?"

"His name is Jeffrey!" said Peter, completely avoiding the question.

Ms. Tasby looked Jeffrey over once more. "Strange," she said.

"If by strange, you mean awesome!"

"Yes, that's what I meant."

Currently, Umanda was out, and she couldn't care less about meeting anyone, ever. Charlie, who came next, was on the exact opposite end of the spectrum – Tom had to tell him to calm down before he hurt anyone in his over-excited frenzy. Mrs. Tasby, fortunately, didn't mind such a happy greeting. Then came Ralph. The little guy had no idea how to react, so the woman knelt down to pet him. As Tom talked about him, a thought came to him. "He's pretty strong now, actually… it's probably about time he evolved."

"Pikapi?" Ralph leapt out of Mrs. Tasby's hands and onto Tom upon hearing this.

"You're pretty eager to evolve, huh?" said Tom. "Okay, just wait a sec." He used his good arm to reach over to his backpack, unzip it, and pull out a Thunderstone he had been saving. The process began the moment Tom touched his Pikachu with the stone. Both Ralph and the stone glowed white, then spent a few seconds transforming. When the glow disappeared, Ralph had become a Raichu. He was slightly larger now, and orange rather than yellow.

After Ralph came Albert, who showed off a couple of magic tricks to his new acquaintance. Then Tom replaced him with Kim, who tried to show off as well, but Tom stopped her before she could flood the room. Last, but not least, came Manny.

"This is Manny, my Machamp," Tom introduced them. "Manny, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Tasby," said Manny.

Ms. Tasby nearly fainted. "Manny, I didn't realize you were going to let her in on it," said Tom.

"I don't see why not," Manny replied.

"Well, my mom _did_ almost die from shock."

"That's a complete exaggeration!"

"Um, excuse me," said Tom's mother, who was still in a very surprised state, "but what exactly is going on here?"

"Exactly what it looks like is going on," Manny answered. "I'm a talking Machamp. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea; I just am. It's sort of a secret, but I figure someone as close to Tom as you ought to know."

Manny's words inspired me to join in. "In that case, I suppose I should confess as well. I can talk too, despite being a Pokédex not designed to do so."

Ms. Tasby looked at me curiously. I was a bit disappointed that she didn't freak out like she did when Manny spoke, but I suppose AI is much more common than talking Machamp. "Um, Thomas," she said, "what exactly have you been getting yourself into?"

"I don't know!" said Tom. "These guys just came to me! Things like that keep happening to me for some reason!"

Jeffrey silently watched the whole scene with his big, beady eyes. I always found Jeffrey's eyes to be a strange thing. It was as if he was always soaking in every detail of his surroundings, trying to make sense of them. He rarely acted on his own accord – perhaps he was too busy processing information around him.

Later, the nurse informed Tom and Peter that they wouldn't have to go another full day bedridden. They ought to be able to move by sometime the next day, she told them, and within just a few more days they should be completely recovered. The chemicals injected into both kids to accelerate their bodies' restoration had really been doing their jobs. "Pocket might be a little behind the times when it comes to technology," the nurse noted, "but our medicine is top-notch!"

* * *

There's a reason why the Fortree City Hospital is the largest, most renowned hospital in all of Hoenn. Decades ago, Fortree City's founders had been faced with the choice of either chopping down a beautiful forest, or simply not building a city there. They chose neither. Instead, all of the residents of Fortree live in tree houses in the canopy, connected to each other with rope bridges. As a result, merely walking from house to house can be a safety hazard.

So that's where they took Samus Aran after the incident in Marine Cave. And that's where she woke up two days later.

The first thing she noticed was that she was wearing a loose gown, not her Zero Suit. She spent her first few seconds awake wondering what was going on. But when she realized she was in a hospital bed, connected to life support machines, it all began coming together.

"You're awake!" said a doctor whom Samus only then noticed standing there. "Good, your vital signs are stable… looks like you're going to be fine."

"What happened?" asked Samus; she was still somewhat dizzy.

"You were in a coma for two days," the man answered. "I don't quite understand it myself, but the Governor insists that I let him discuss it with you alone. I'll have him in here shortly."

The doctor gave Samus her Zero Suit to put on before the Governor came in. Once he and Samus were alone, the Governor explained to her exactly what the problem was. "You've been corrupted, Samus," the Governor explained. "The Phazon attacks finally got to your system. It is only mild corruption at the moment, and your body is used to it now, so fortunately, you were out for only two days this time, rather than the month you spent in a coma after your previous corruption. I am not sure we could afford to lose you for a month."

"Corrupted," Samus said bitterly, bad memories coming back to her. "I knew it. I was afraid this might happen."

"As was I," the Governor admitted. "Which is why I ordered a PED from the Galactic Federation the moment I heard of Phazon's unexpected return."

"Wait… what?"

"Samus, put on your Power Suit." She did so; the armor materialized around her. But it was not the armor she was used to. "You are familiar with the Phazon Enhancement Device; you wore it the last time your system was producing Phazon. I had you fitted with it while you were unconscious. You can now use it to exploit the Phazon your body is outputting in attacks of your own."

Samus inspected her new PED-fused armor. "I guess that's one good thing that came out of this whole mess," she said.

"Indeed. Now, Samus, please explain to me the exact details of what happened on your mission to Marine Cave. When you are done explaining, I have some briefing to do as well. Much has happened in the last two days."

* * *

Tom and Peter were told that they were now recovered enough to move around on their own, provided that they use crutches for a day or so. Which is why they were quite irritated when they were told to stay in the room anyway.

"What's the holdup?" Peter asked in frustration.

"The Governor is here," explained the nurse. "He'd like to have a word with you."

That shut Peter up. "The… governor?" Tom asked in awe. "Like, of Japano?"

"No, the governor of Massachusetts," the smiley nurse said sarcastically. "Yes, I meant the governor of Japano. He will be here shortly."

As the nurse said, the Governor was there shortly… but he wasn't the only one. Samus Aran was by his side when he entered the room. And following them were four professors: Oak, Elm, Birch, and Rowan. And following the professors was Jude Tutino. Since Tom's mother, Peter's parents, Opal, April, Manny, and Golem had all been in the room to begin with, it got pretty crowded in there.

"Nobody told me there was going to be a party," said Peter.

"Not quite," said the Governor. "I have come here to get a clearer picture of the events of the day before yesterday. Five important players in these events are now present in this room, and I hope to hear detailed accounts of all of their experiences."

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Governor," said Tom.

"The honor is mine, Mr. Tasby," said the Governor. "As it is for you, Mr. Embs, Miss Maywood, and Mr. Tutino. You have all proven yourselves to hold tremendous courage. Japano should be proud of you."

"Indeed, you've done well, Thomas and Judith," said Oak. "When I heard that two of my pupils played key roles in battles against the Space Pirates, I just had to come and hear how it happened!"

"You've done well too, Peter and April," said Elm. "I mean, two of my pupils are here too, so I felt like listening in too."

"I just happened to be in the neighborhood," said Birch. "But hey, why not? This sounds like it should be interesting."

"I, erm, I simply didn't want to feel left out," Rowan admitted.

"Excuse me," said Peter, "I've met the other three professors, but… who are you?"

"I'm Professor Rowan," he answered. "I come from Sinnoh. Funny you should meet me last, as I happen to be the highest-ranking Pokémon professor in the room!"

"It's true," said Oak. "He brags about it all the time."

Once everyone had been properly introduced, the explanations began. It was all very complicated. First Samus described her mission to Marine Cave, and how it went awry. But as it turns out, the Governor had known that there was a chance of failure… which is why he simultaneously authorized an uprising of the toughest trainers in Mossdeep City.

That's where Jude comes in. He, apparently, had been among the initial revolt of trainers against the Space Pirate takeover of the Space Center. "I go where the action is," he explained. "That's why I fought Pirates in Goldenrod, and that's why I fought them in Mossdeep." Of course, the Pirates won that round thanks to Mewtwo, and Jude found himself stuck on the island afterwards. Not that he had any desire to leave until the Space Pirate problem had been taken care of. And he had just the tool to help take care of it: my brother. The Pirates had cut off all communications between the island and the rest of the world… except for one. The Ultradex was too brand-new, too state-of-the-art a piece of technology to be hindered by a measly blockade. (Oak was very happy to hear that his little device had been so useful.) Once Jude discovered this, he informed the twin gym leaders of Mossdeep, Tate and Liza. The news of the lone surviving communications outlet in Mossdeep eventually reached the Governor, even as it evaded watchful Pirate eyes. The Governor knew how to use this to his advantage. He knew that as long as the threat of Mewtwo still lingered, retaking the Space Center wasn't an option; but should Mewtwo be temporarily unable to Teleport there, the Governor would let Jude and the gym leaders know right away.

So Jude, Tate, and Liza spent the next three days busily finding and recruiting the best Pokémon trainers on the island (many of whom, like Jude, had come for the initial revolt and had found themselves stuck afterwards). Then came the call from the Governor: Mewtwo was, for the moment, distracted. It was now or never. The trainers rushed the unsuspecting Pirates with overwhelming force. Before long, the Mossdeep Space Center was out of Pirate hands. A few Pirates, however, escaped; those with the ability to fly did so and left the scene. As it turns out, they may have done this in part to protect Kraid – or maybe they just saw that their stay in Mossdeep had come to an end. Either way, Jude got on his Skarmory and chased them while the rest of the trainers finished up. Jude chased the Pirates all the way to Tom and Peter's location, where they finally put up a fight, only to get killed by Jude's Pokémon one by one.

Tom and Peter then went over their side of the story. They told all about killing all of the Space Pirates in the Weather Institute, chasing Kraid in spite of a couple of brief interruptions, and getting attacked by Mewtwo. Latios and Latias, after saving them, had dropped them off at the front door of the hospital and let others take care of it from there.

This left April. Her story was relatively brief. She had finally caught a Feebas when she saw Kraid, who's sort of hard to miss. She described being overcome with an absolute certainty that she had to go there, and she had to fight. To evolve, Feebas only need to be fed enough of a certain kind of Pokéblock; April gave her new Pokémon what it needed, and it evolved into a Milotic. Now she had a full team of six Pokémon. She biked over to the Weather Institute and killed the remaining Pirates, allowing Tom and Peter to continue their chase.

"Intriguing," the Governor concluded. "And ironic, in a way. What has transpired here is that the Space Pirates planned a two-front attack, which we inadvertently responded to with a three-front attack. The Pirates, it seems, had hoped to keep Samus distracted in Marine Cave while they launched a second attack on the Weather Institute. I, meanwhile, had a similar plan: keep Mewtwo distracted in Marine Cave while launching a simultaneous attack on the Space Center. Yet, while I was unaware of the plan to gain control of the Weather Institute, four completely unsuspecting teenagers took care of that as well. Mewtwo had to leave Marine Cave to put a stop to them."

"I don't understand," said Jude. "Why did Mewtwo leave his fight to protect Kraid when he didn't leave to protect the Space Center?"

"For plenty of possible reasons," said the Governor. "For one, the Space Center was already a lost cause by the time Mewtwo Teleported away from the scene; one loss for him would be bearable, but he was not about to allow a second one. Furthermore, perhaps he saw Kraid as being less replaceable than the temporary little base they had installed in Mossdeep. Or perhaps he waited until he thought Samus was weak enough for his minions to finish her off. Any one of these explanations might apply."

"There's something else I don't get," said Tom. "What were Latios and Latias doing there in the first place? If they were watching over us, why didn't they come and help until the last minute?"

As always, the Governor had answers. "The Eon Pokémon spend their days roaming Hoenn – and when something as large as Kraid is doing so as well, it is difficult not to notice. I do not know when they began watching, but I can speculate as to why they took so long to intervene: the element of surprise. Think about it, Mr. Tasby: had they made their presence known any earlier, they would not have been able to rescue you so quickly under Mewtwo's watch."

"That's right," added Oak, "and I can attest to that: it's exactly why I kept myself hidden when I was watching Samus fight Mewtwo back on Mt. Chimney. I think both she and I can agree that it came in handy."

"Hold on a moment," said Samus. "Aren't we passing over the most important question? _Why_ were the Space Pirates trying to take over the Weather Institute in the first place?"

"I was going to discuss that in detail with you, personally, later," the Governor told her. "However, since you asked, I will give you the short version now. Using the technology at the Weather Institute, they were going to find two legendary Pokémon, Groudon and Rayquaza, and do to them exactly what they did to Kyogre and to the legendary beasts of Johto."

"You mean…?"

"Yes, they were going to suck their energy out with Metroids."

This caused some half-confused, half-surprised murmurs to fill the room, but the Governor soon drew attention back to himself. "That concludes the unplanned question-and-answer portion of our visit. Now we have come to the final portion. Mr. Tutino and Miss Maywood, if you would please both stand between Mr. Tasby and Mr. Embs. I believe that Samus has something to say to you four."

Jude and April did as they were told, and everyone else backed off into the far wall, assuming that they weren't there to begin with. Tom's mother and Peter's family, though the Governor had allowed them to stay, had been in an awe-stricken silence throughout the whole meeting (yes, even Opal). They now made themselves seem as non-present as possible.

Samus stood in front of the four teenagers. "Until now," she said, "only one person has ever fought against Kraid and lived to talk about it. And that person is me. Tom and Peter… I hope you really grasp the magnitude of what you just did. It's almost unprecedented."

"It doesn't matter," Tom said in frustration. "He got away. We lost. We failed." This was the first time he had said this, but it clearly wasn't the first time he had thought it.

Tom's words caused some half-confused, half-reassuring murmurs scattered around the room, but Samus soon drowned them out with her voice. "You don't get it – you saved my life. If it weren't for you, Mewtwo would have finished me off. I have you to thank for even being here." But behind Samus's veil of gratitude, her mind was haunted with the exact same feeling of regret. Once again, she had only survived by being saved by others. Once again, she had failed.

"Samus speaks the truth, Mr. Tasby," the Governor added. "Your actions were of greater help than you give yourself credit for. Besides, life is rarely as simple as 'win' or 'lose'. As you grow, you will come to realize that."

"Thanks, Mr. Governor," said Tom. "But… Samus, you've saved my life a couple of times, too this was barely even repayment."

"That's just part of the job. It's nothing out of the ordinary for me. But I'll admit… I wasn't expecting you to be capable of what you did. And April… Jude… your actions were equally surprising, and equally incredible. I underestimated you. All four of you. You've all proven yourselves capable of great things. That's why I'm giving you this." She handed each teenager what appeared to be a small metallic square. "It's a miniature distress signal," she explained. "There's a button inside – if you push it, I'll be alerted immediately, and it'll show me where you are. I figure that since you guys have such a knack for running into Space Pirates, it's only logical."

"Tell me about it," muttered Tom. Of the four of them, it was he who had encountered Space Pirates the most, both by accident and by his own choosing.

"Well," said the Governor, "I believe that out little meeting has come to its end. Mr. Tasby and Mr. Embs, I wish you both a speedy recovery. On the chance that you are no longer bedridden, I should inform you that there is a group of reporters and journalists right outside the hospital, waiting to catch an interview with anyone involved in these recent events."

"I'm there!" said Peter, and he rolled out of bed faster than was strictly healthy for his recovering bones. A pair of crutches helped him keep balance once out of bed, as another pair did for Tom. Everyone in the room got up to leave, sometimes thanking the Governor for visiting first. Tom's mother was about to pass the Governor by when he grabbed her arm. "I want you to stay," he said, quietly, so only she could hear. "There is something you ought to know." He turned to Samus. "Samus, I believe that you should listen in on this as well. Please stay in here with us."

* * *

Once most people had left the room, only the Governor, Samus, Ms. Tasby, and the four professors remained. Professor Elm checked the door to ensure their absolute privacy; everyone else found a chair to sit down in.

Understandably, Ms. Tasby was confused. "Why me, Mr. Governor?" she asked. "What do I have to do with anything?"

"There is something about your son I would like you to know," the Governor replied. "It is something we have known for many years, but it seemed illogical to tell you while you were still raising him. I apologize for keeping it a secret from you for so long nonetheless. I hope you do not hold it against me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Professor Rowan, you have the Pokéballs?"

"I would guard them with my life through the fires of Hell itself!"

"Very good, although I only asked you to transport them here."

"Yes, well, I did that too." Rowan took a pair of Pokéballs out of his pocket and pressed the buttons on the front to open them. Two Pokémon beamed out of them. One was somewhat colorful, though prominently red, and with two pairs of tentacles for arms: Deoxys. The other was a small, light-pinkish creature: Mew.

"You are testing my patience, Mariam," Deoxys said angrily. "I have made it clear that I do not enjoy being held in those horrid contraptions. This had better be worth the trip." The Governor telepathically emitted the equivalent of a blush; he did not like to be called by his real first name.

"Oh, I think it's fun!" said Mew. "There's so much to explore there and so many Pokémon to meet! I've made so many friends!"

"Mew, Deoxys, I have brought you here to increase my credibility," said the Governor. "Without your words to back up mine, what I am about to say would be even more difficult to believe for the two people in the room not already aware of it."

"That's _IT?_" Deoxys shouted. "You had me imprisoned to make you sound more _credible?_"

"For a very brief time only. Please forgive me, my comrade. Consider myself indebted to you for a future favor whenever you need it."

Deoxys was still not pleased. "Very well," he said. "Now go ahead and get this over with."

"Don't mind him, he's always a negative Nelly," said Mew. He floated over to Samus. "And who are you, Miss Lady?" he asked. He looked at Martha Tasby. "And you too, ma'am?"

"I'm Samus Aran," Samus replied.

"And I'm… my name is Martha Tasby."

Mew took a hard look at Ms. Tasby. "Oh, Tasby you say? Oh, oh, I get it! I know why I'm here now!"

"As do I," said Deoxys. "And I would like to get to it sooner rather than later."

"There's no hurry, comrade," said the Governor. "However, I will keep digressions to a minimum nonetheless. Samus, Ms. Tasby, I will begin by informing you that the governorship of Japano is not the only important position I hold. For you see, I am also co-Chairmon of the Council of Psy."

"Council of Psy?" Ms. Tasby asked confusedly.

"Humans!" Deoxys shouted while snapping his tentacles on the ground. "Always repeating something when they're confused! What good is it, I ask?"

Mew sniggered at this overreaction. "Calm down, comrade," said the Governor. "The faster we explain this, the faster you get to leave. Yes, Ms. Tasby, the Council of Psy. Deoxys, I have always admired your ability to eloquently explain the Council's functions; would you mind doing so now?"

"Certainly," said Deoxys. "The Council of Psy was founded three decades ago by a coalition of the most intelligent psychic Pokémon on Pocket and a small number of humans. Our mission is fairly simple: to use our psychic powers for the betterment of Pocket. We do this in many ways. We aide scientists in their research; we contemplate the unsolved mysteries of our planet; we gaze into the future to help us prepare for it. It is this last role that we are concerned with today.

"Knowing the future is much like knowing the past: with enough clues and enough information at one's disposal, one can paint a picture of it without any firsthand knowledge. It takes intelligence beyond human comprehension, and psychic powers are a necessity, but it can be done. However, the future is different from the past in one crucial way: it has yet to happen. The future is always uncertain. We can estimate the probability of any given event, but no prediction is true without a doubt. And even the predictions we do have are vague. We can sense darkness, but cannot easily determine what form this darkness will take. We can sense when something will drastically change society, but cannot easily determine what it is. Nevertheless, the art of future sight is by far the Council's most important, most commonly used function."

"Deoxys, Mew, and I are the three current Chairmon of the Council of Psy," said the Governor. "The four professors in the room are honorary members."

"Hey, hey, are we gonna tell this lady the truth yet?" asked Mew eagerly. "Hey, can I tell her?"

"Of course you may."

"Ooh, goodie!" He faced Ms. Tasby, addressing her above everyone else. "So, so Ms. Lady, you know how Deoxys was saying stuff about how we can predict a dark time coming? Well, a while ago we sort of did, and it looked really bad. But after a whole lot of observing and meditating and thinking, we realized that not all hope was lost! Because there was a good chance that someone would fight against this darkness and put a stop to it before it could spread. And guess what? The person we predicted to be way, way more likely than anyone else to be this person… is your son!"

Martha Tasby's face was paper-white; her eyes were as wide as they could get. "My… my Thomas? He's… he's going to… I don't entirely understand. What's he going to do?"

"Did you not just hear me?" said an annoyed Deoxys. "I told you, future prediction is extremely vague. We do not know what your son will fight against. We do not know if he will be alone in this fight. We are not even certain that it will be him – though I will admit, after years of attention paid to the issue, he has emerged as by far the likeliest candidate. But there is a distant second. He was in this room not ten minutes ago. The one with red hair."

"You mean… Jude?"

"Yes, him. We are keeping an eye on him as well. It may or may not be he who will play the key role in saving Pocket –and, in fact, the entire universe. For the darkness we foresaw was not confined to this planet. And no matter who tries to stop it, there is still a disturbingly high chance that nobody will succeed."

Water coated the edges of Martha Tasby's wide eyes. "So… my son's been chosen then."

"Not chosen," Deoxys corrected. "Nobody chose him. We found him."

Martha looked at Professor Oak. "You're part of this… Council too," she said. "Did you know this?"

Oak looked back apologetically. "For many years, yes. I'm sorry, Martha."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad you kept it from me until now. I don't know what I would have done if I'd known with Thomas still in the house. Gone crazy, probably."

"Are we done here, Mariam?" Deoxys asked impatiently.

"Yes, we are done. Thank you for your time. Ms. Tasby, you are now free to leave. Professor Rowan, please escort Mew and Deoxys away from here. Samus, I would like you to please come with me back to my office – there is more that I would like to share with you there, and something I'd like to show you as well."


	22. Fortree City

The Fortree City Hospital is one of the few structures in the city to actually be at ground level (as are the Pokémon Center and the Gym). Outside of it stood four teenagers (two of whom only stood at all thanks to a pair of crutches) and a group of people holding microphones, cameras, and notepads. Tom was currently telling this group exactly what had happened before he found himself in the hospital. Peter was providing the… eh… color commentary. If you could call it that.

"That's when I noticed that Kraid had smashed through the wall…."

"…Mutherfucker was fucking HUGE! Like if some big-ass Wailord ate another fucking Wailord, but even bigger!"

It basically went on like that until they moved on to April and Jude. When they did, Tom's mother finally emerged from the hospital. "Mom!" Tom said as she hugged him (he was barely able to hug back). "What were you doing in there?"

"…Nothing important," she told him. "Don't worry about it." I could tell just from the look in her eyes that she was lying, though it would be a while before I learned what really happened in there.

The Governor's airship had apparently been stationed on the hospital roof the whole time, because that's where it took off from, with Samus and the professors presumably in there as well. The press representatives were extremely disappointed to miss their chance to interview these people.

Jude had, mysteriously, disappeared once everyone turned their backs on him for a mere moment. It took a while for the press to realize they had been given every piece of information they were going to get, but much prompting from Tom and Peter's families helped.

After that, everyone went to the Pokémon Center to dine in celebration of Tom and Peter's departure from the hospital. As usual, Peter and Opal were the dominant forces in any conversation. The only noteworthy part of the experience happened when Tom went to get seconds.

Jude was waiting for him there. "I don't plan to stick around forever, Tom." He waited a moment to make sure he had Tom's attention. "Tonight. Midnight. Route 119, right outside the city."

Tom nodded; he understood. "I'll see you there."

* * *

For the rest of the evening, Tom, Peter, April, and Opal walked up and down the entirety of Route 119 and trained their Pokémon. They made sure to stay away from the wreckage of the Weather Institute, which was being investigated by the police and was surrounded by yellow tape and curious onlookers.

Despite having a staggering 24 Pokémon between the four of them, the training went fairly well. Because there were so many of them, the trainers mostly made the Pokémon compete against each other. Not in battles, though – at least, not formal ones. They got creative. Races in general, though, seemed to be the default.

Kim, while still Tom's weakest Pokémon, was more motivated than ever to improve. In fact, I'd even say she was the most motivated Pokémon on the team… or at least, the most motivated to get stronger merely for the sake of being stronger. The others had their own motivations: Charlie simply enjoyed training; Umanda wanted to prove that she was not as lazy as she appeared; Albert feared being as weak as he once was. But only Kim wanted to improve above anything else.

Albert saw how well Kim and Charlie were getting along and decided to join in. The three of them stuck together as much as they could the whole evening. Unfortunately, Kim still held a grudge against Ralph. Every time Ralph tried to approach her, she'd immediately scurry away; Charlie and Albert would follow her. Ralph gave up and tried to team up with Umanda instead… but she apparently still had a grudge against him too, because she also scurried away when he approached. Tom definitely noticed all this: he made a low, contemplative "Hmm…" noise each time Kim or Umanda shunned poor Ralph. His team still needed some work.

* * *

It was a dark, dark night. This was mostly because it was a new moon, which not only meant that there was no moonlight, but the dark circle in the sky also blocked the light of many stars. The rest of the stars were blocked by the thick canopy of leaves above. And, of course, a city integrated into a forest is not going to be very lit up. So Tom had to find his way to Route 119 in almost pitch-black darkness that midnight. He used my flashlight function at its maximum brightness; Manny followed behind him. Together, they walked slowly between the thick forest on their left and thick forest on their right. Tom put his hand on each tree he passed by, helping him stay on the right path in the dark. He stopped using this method, though, when his finger got bitten by a tiny Seedot (which Manny promptly subdued). Finally, the trees ceased to surround them, and they found themselves in an open field.

Jude was there, as promised. He, too, used his Ultradex as a flashlight. Tom and Jude stood next to a large, wide dirt road and shone their flashlights on each other. Jude nodded. "Five-on-five?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Good. Ready?"

"Definitely."

"Then let's begin. Go, Swampert!"

"Get 'em, Manny!"

Swampert was beamed onto the dirt road in a flash of light more noticeable than usual, given the contrasting darkness around it. Meanwhile, Manny hopped over to the road as well. Each trainer now shone his flashlight on his opponent's Pokémon.

"Earthquake!" said Jude.

"Seismic Toss!" said Tom.

Both Tom and Jude stepped back so as to not be in range of the Earthquake. Swampert pounded the ground with his fists and caused the ground to shake so hard, Manny couldn't even stand up properly. When a lull in the Earthquake occurred, Manny immediately jumped to his feet, hopped over to Swampert, grabbed him, and jumped in the air. He then threw his foe into the ground.

When Swampert got to his feet, he jumped away from Manny and chewed on the Leftovers attached to his hold-item necklace to regain some health. Both trainers gave the same order again, and the same scene repeated itself in front of them. Then Tom ordered a third Seismic Toss, but Jude gave a new command: "Stealth Rock!"

Swampert ran around the battlefield, forcing Manny to chase him. As this happened, Swampert was throwing rocks every which way into the air. But the rocks never _left_ the air: they continued floating in place rather than falling to the ground. This continued until Manny finally caught his foe, jumped into the air with him, and slammed him into the ground.

Swampert was still ready for more, but Jude switched him out. A large metal bird took his place. "Skarmory, use Air Slash!" said Jude.

Tom was wise enough to withdraw Manny before the attack made contact. "Your turn, Ralph!"

Tom's Raichu appeared… right in the center of a circle of levitating rocks, which had attracted the beam of light from the Pokéball to that location. Ralph was assaulted by the rocks from all sides. As this was happening, Jude shouted, "Whirlwind!"

"Crap, no! Thunder it!" shouted Tom.

Ralph shook off the damage from the rocks and attacked. As Skarmory rhythmically flapped her wings so as to form a twister, she was struck by an enormous bolt of electricity from above. Ralph, of course, was summoning this bolt with the charged particles in his cheeks. The attack continued until the Whirlwind finally reached Ralph and blew him right back into his Pokéball. Skarmory, amazingly, was still conscious. This was only because her ability, Sturdy, prevented her from being knocked out by only one move.

After forcing Ralph back into his Pokéball, the Whirlwind forced Umanda out of hers. The Stealth Rocks attacked her just as they had attacked Ralph. Jude took the opportunity to give an order: "Spikes!"

While Umanda freed herself from the rock trap, Skarmory literally buried her head in the ground. Tom knew that she was weak: "Finish it off with a Dark Pulse!"

Umanda shot the dark beam (visible only thanks to the flashlights) at her foe, who still had her head buried and never even moved to dodge it. Skarmory fainted almost immediately. Jude withdrew her. "Go, Snorlax!"

Jude released the huge, fat Pokémon. "Confuse Ray!" said Tom.

"Body Slam!" said Jude.

Umanda's red eyes glowed as she unleashed her invisible attack. Snorlax's attack was not so invisible, nor was it avoidable: so big was the Pokémon that Umanda had nowhere to run before his body was on top of her. She struggled her way out, but emerged bruised. Snorlax had packed quite a punch, so to speak.

When Snorlax stood up, he never kept his balance, leaning on one side and then on the other; the Confuse Ray had worked. "Dark Pulse!" said Tom.

"Body Slam!" Jude repeated.

Umanda circled around her opponent while shooting the dark beam at him. Snorlax stumbled around a bit before Body Slamming an area of ground nowhere near Umanda's location. Tom, however, was not pleased. No matter how hard Umanda shot her Dark Pulse, it had almost no effect on the Snorlax. Tom made a quick decision: "Umanda, come back!"

Umanda retreated into her Pokéball. "Go, Manny!" Tom shouted as he released his Machamp. Into the circle of floating rocks. Where not only did the rocks immediately attack him, but Spikes shot up from the ground beneath him as well to deal even more damage. He only got through the ordeal without fainting thanks to a berry he kept as a hold-item on the standard necklace.

I could tell that Manny wished he could say something to Tom, so I spoke in his place. "You'd better be careful about how often you switch Pokémon," I told Tom. "That's going to happen every time you do."

"Gee, thanks, I couldn't tell," Tom snapped back. He was far too anxious to be thankful.

Unfortunately, his anxiety turned out to be warranted: at that moment, Jude withdrew his Snorlax. In his place, he sent out a Gengar.

Tom's pulse increased. No doubt he knew that, despite the hopelessness one-sidedness of the situation, there was simply no switching Manny out yet. "Just keep using Rock Slide!" he yelled.

"Psychic!" said Jude.

Manny conjured a series of rocks to hurl at his opponent, but he only had time to make two of them hit. After that, Manny (and the rocks) went tumbling backward as he was overwhelmed by a psychic force. He did not get back up.

Tom withdrew his Machamp. "C'mon again, Umanda!" said Tom. He knew, and dreaded, what would happen next: Umanda was assaulted by both rocks and spikes the moment she appeared. She had to consume her berry to regain some health.

Now there were two nocturnal, darkly-colored Pokémon fighting in near-total darkness (albeit with flashlights shining on them). "Use Hypnosis!" said Jude.

"Confuse Ray!"

The Hypnosis missed; the Confuse Ray did not. "Now use Dark Pulse!" said Tom.

Gengar tried another Hypnosis, but his confusion got the better of him. The Dark Pulse, however, hit him hard, thanks largely to his type disadvantage.

Jude then withdrew his Gengar. "Go, Jolteon!"

Out came the spiky yellow Pokémon. For once, Tom actually smiled; this is what he had been waiting for. "Dig!" he shouted.

"Thunderbolt!" said Jude. But Umanda was already underground. Jolteon looked intently at the ground while nothing else happened. Several seconds passed. Then Umanda popped out of the ground right underneath him. Jolteon dodged it. To make it clear how impossible this would seem, he had less than one-twentieth of a second between the moment Umanda appeared and the moment her attack would have hit him. Yet he succeeded at avoiding her, running away so fast that Tom had trouble keeping the flashlight on him. Jolteon then zapped Umanda with his Thunderbolt; Umanda was barely standing up afterwards.

Tom ordered Umanda to use the one move he knew would not miss: "Faint Attack!"

It didn't matter, though: Jolteon was fast enough to use Thunderbolt a second time before Umanda could attack him. Umanda fell down, unconscious. "That's enough," said Tom, withdrawing her. "You're up, Albert!"

Albert appeared and was immediately attacked by the spikes and rocks. "Shadow Ball!" said Jude.

"Disable!" Tom hastily shouted.

Jolteon soon found himself unable to use Shadow Ball as ordered (which was extremely good news for Albert). "Use Thunderbolt, then!" said Jude.

"Miracle Eye!" said Tom. Some airborne sparkles made their way towards Jolteon; when they reached him, they gave him a strange glow. Now it would be much easier to attack him without missing. The downside was that Albert got hit with a Thunderbolt in the meantime.

"Another Thunderbolt!" said Jude.

"Psybeam!" said Tom.

Albert got zapped again as he blasted Jolteon with a wave of psychic energy. Both trainers gave the same order again, and the same thing happened again. Jolteon now barely managed to remain standing, but Albert did not. Tom withdrew him. "You're up again, Ralph!"

Ralph entered the battlefield again, pitting one electric-type against the other. Well, not really: as Ralph got attacked by the rocks and spikes, Jude withdrew his Jolteon. To replace him, out came Swampert.

Tom was as tense as ever. "Body Slam!" he shouted, since no other moves would have an effect against a partly ground-type foe.

"Earthquake!" said Jude.

Ralph smashed himself into Swampert, though this didn't seem to have much of an effect. Then Swampert created an Earthquake that knocked the Raichu out almost immediately.

Tom withdrew Ralph. He grew gloomy: he was down to his last Pokémon; Jude still had four. "Go, Kim," he said unenthusiastically. Kim appeared, and of course, was hit by the rocks and spikes.

"Earthquake!" said Jude.

"Use Surf," said Tom. Despite her master's lack of enthusiasm, Kim performed the attack fast enough to prevent her lumbering foe from finishing his own attack. Swampert went down for good when the wave crashed on him. Jude beamed him back into his Pokéball.

"Again, Jolteon!" said Jude.

Tom apparently grabbed onto one last spark of hope. After all, Jolteon had already been weakened, as had Jude's other Pokémon; there was still a chance, however small. "Surf again! Don't be afraid!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Tom didn't have to tell his Seadra not to be afraid; she fiercely went on the attack as if the type disadvantage didn't exist. Sadly, whatever small chance she'd had disappeared the moment the electricity got to her. After convulsing a little, she fell to the ground, unconscious, before her Surf could reach its target. I could feel Tom's body fill up with despair as he withdrew his fifth and last Pokémon.

Tom and Jude shone their flashlights on each other and looked at each other. "Good battle," Tom said, though he didn't sound like he meant it.

"It was," Jude agreed. "Your team has improved, for sure. But it's hard to tell what you're getting at with it, if you know what I'm saying. I mean, for one thing, most of your Pokémon are primarily special attackers; your Machamp is the really only one with good physical attack, and he's too slow to use as a sweeper. And I suppose your Umbreon makes for a good special wall… but where's your physical wall? You sorely need one. Getting a tank wouldn't hurt, either."

Tom looked at Jude like he was speaking another language. "Um… what?"

"Did you even understand any of that?"

"Not really." Tom tried to sound cool about it, but his pulse was going crazy and his face was almost completely red.

Jude sighed, the way a Kindergarten teacher might sigh when a student can't add two plus two. "You can't just build your team based on the mix of types. After you get to a certain level of competition, types become only a minor issue. It's all about stats. You know – attack, special attack, defense, speed… the key is balancing your team to account for every stat. You need sweepers, which are strong and fast enough to take out the other guy's team, but you also need walls, which have good defense and block certain sweepers, and you can also have tanks, which stall for time… the list goes on. This is stuff you really need to know if you're going to compete in the higher levels of the Pokémon battling circuit." Tom looked down at his feet in embarrassment. "I have to admit," Jude continued, "you've been through a lot with your Pokémon, and it shows. I'll admit it: you're a good trainer. But I don't think you have what it takes to be a _great_ trainer. It'll take more than just experience – you have to really know what you're doing."

Tom failed to respond at all. "I have to go," said Jude. "I don't have anything left to do in this town; by the time you wake up tomorrow, I'll be somewhere else. With only one more badge, I'll finally have all eight I need to get to the Pokémon League. Anyway… see you later."

"Bye," said Tom. He stood and watched as Jude walked back to Fortree City, with Jolteon following him.

Tom turned off my flashlight function, leaving him in total darkness. He leaned back against a nearby tree at the very edge of the forest, let go of his crutches, and looked up at the stars. It was clear that he was in a crappy mood. The darkness seemed to soothe him a little. He simply stood there and stared at the sky for several seconds. Then he unexpectedly found himself in a pair of arms.

"I'm really sorry," said Opal. "It's just… I heard you two mention meeting at twelve and I couldn't resist coming to watch. I'm really sorry I snuck here." Her speech was uncharacteristically slow – which isn't to say that it was by any means slow, only that it was compared to her normal speech.

"It's fine," said Tom. "Don't worry about it."

Opal detached herself from Tom. "I just wanted to say…" she started. "…That thing Jude said about you never being great. I think it's dumb that he thinks that, just because he beat you this once, he can talk to you like he knows what's what. I know for sure that he's wrong. You don't just have it in you to be great – you already _are_ great. Remember what Samus said? About how you did something nobody else has been able to except her? I think she has way more room to talk than that Jude guy. Don't let the stuff he says get to you, okay?"

Tom looked back up at the stars. "Thanks, Opal," he said. "That… that means a lot to me."

"Hey," said Opal, drawing Tom's attention back to her. She put a slip of paper into his hand. "My parents are making me go back to Johto tomorrow," she said. "They tell me Hoenn is too dangerous because of all the Space Pirates and stuff. But just because I'll be gone doesn't mean we can't stay in touch, right? I mean… if you want to."

Tom had to turn my flashlight back on to see the paper properly. "Of course I do," he replied. "That'd be great."

"Awesome!" Opal hugged Tom once more. "I'm going to bed now… I'll see you again tomorrow, okay?"

"Mhm," Tom said, nodding. Opal let go of Tom and walked away, shouting "Good-bye!" once more before finally leaving Tom's sight.

With Opal gone, Tom continued staring at the paper she had given him. Finally, a genuine smile spread across his face. Above him, the dark moon entered a new cycle.

* * *

The following morning, Tom and Peter went back to the hospital to finally get their casts removed. Thanks to the chemical supplements, their bones had finally repaired enough to allow free movement. Still, the doctor insisted that they visit one last time the next morning, just to be completely certain that the recovery was going smoothly.

April had the bandages on her arm taken off as well. The faded remnants of a gash were still visible underneath. "The doctor says that the scar'll be gone in a couple of weeks or so," she explained to Tom and Peter. She sounded disappointed about it.

Then it was time for teary goodbyes. Tom's mother clung to him for so long that Opal barely got a chance to get near.

"Just don't die," said Ms. Tasby. "That's all I ask of you; the next time I see you, you'd better be all in one piece."

"Don't worry," said Tom. "I will be."

"Just remember, your lonely old mother can only handle so much tragedy in one lifetime. If nothing else, I can only hope that that thought will keep you alive."

Before long, Tom, Peter, and April were once again on their own.

"So now what?" asked April.

"What do you think?" said Peter. "Now we do what we always do. We train!"

* * *

And train they did. For a change of pace, they went to Route 120 this time, though the change of scenery had a minimal effect on the actual training.

Now Tom was actively pairing Ralph up with Kim and Umanda whenever the opportunity arose. Kim was again keeping close to Charlie and Albert – that friendship, it turned out, had not been temporary. But as was the case before, Kim was in no mood to accept Ralph, and therefore neither were the others. Umanda, too, was as spiteful toward Ralph as before.

It all gave Tom a lot to think about during lunch. In fact, he was thinking so hard that he spent more time staring down at his plate than staring up at the T.V. screen, despite the fact that his face had appeared on it. April's had, too, as had Peter's; they, fortunately, were paying attention. The news station was recapping the happenings of the last few days, and that meant playing portions of the kids' interviews.

Of course, everyone else in the cafeteria were sneaking looks at their table and pointing them out to others. They whispered among themselves things like "is that them?" and "that has to be them!"

April was slightly embarrassed. "Maybe I should take this bandana off," she said. "It's way too easy to identify me in this."

"Nah," said Peter. "It looks nice on you."

"Thanks," said a surprised April. She looked at Peter suspiciously. "What exactly do you want from me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, you aren't just going to complement me for no reason, are you?"

"Sure I am. You know me. I'm just one big ol' bag of kindness."

April snorted. "Right, I forgot."

"Ooh, it's Samus!" said Peter. He was right: several pictures of Samus had appeared on the screen. Nobody in the media had managed to personally contact her, so they had to make do with showing some old photos and merely talking about her. "You know, while she was in our hospital room, I did a thorough investigation and finally concluded that Samus is, definitely, without a doubt, female."

"Uh huh. And when you say 'thorough investigation', do you mean you were staring at her crotch the whole time?"

"Yes. For _science_."

April sighed. "Why is it that every time you almost redeem yourself, you have to do something stupid to cancel it out?"

"Hey, I risked my friggin' _life_ fighting that humongous Kraid guy. I'd say that's pretty friggin' redeeming right there."

Then there came a noise from the Pokémon pen: "SUUU!" Tom immediately snapped out of his trance-like, half-attentive state and ran over to the source of the commotion, as did April, Peter, and Manny. Inside the pen, both Kim and Umanda were recovering from a surprise electrical attack by Pachirisu. Pachirisu was still angrily ranting at both of them ("…Pa chu siri su!..."), while Ralph was behind her, looking distraught and trying to pull her away.

"Pachirisu, no!" yelled April, and she immediately put the little critter back in her Pokéball. Ralph sighed and lay down, giving extremely apologetic looks to Kim and Umanda, who were still too surprised and confused to properly react.

"I'm really sorry," April said to Tom. "She's not usually like that."

"I know," Tom replied. He looked at Kim and Umanda. "I hate to say this, but… I think those two might've deserved it."

* * *

After lunch, Tom decided to go train on his own. While Peter and April went back to Route 120, he instead went to Route 119.

Tom rounded all of his Pokémon up in front of him. "You guys have done well," he said. "Really well. You've all gotten really strong, and I'm proud to be your trainer. But being strong isn't everything; motivation is at least as important, and maybe _more_ important. I can tell that all of you really want to improve, and I think you want me to win each time I battle, too; that's all great. But one thing's still missing. You can't just want yourself to win, or even just want me to win – you also have to want the _team_ to win. _Some_ of you…" he gave harsh looks to Umanda and Kim "…have been getting in the way of our team's togetherness. From here on out, that won't be acceptable. There's only so much I can teach you, and there's only so much you can learn by yourself; everything else, you'll learn from the rest of the team. And you have to know each other's strengths and weaknesses as well as you know your own – how else will you have any idea about our strategy? Basically, we're a family, and it's about time we started acting the part. Got it?"

"Hear, hear!" shouted Manny, and he put a fist in the air. Charlie, Albert, and Ralph joined him in their enthusiastic approval.

Kim looked very uncomfortable. So she was terrified when Tom kneeled down to her level to speak to her. "Kim, listen. It's not Ralph's fault that I chose him to help capture you. It's not his fault that you were scared of him. Why are you still giving him a hard time?" Kim looked at the ground and gave a low-pitch, extremely sorry-sounding screech. "You remember the last time I punished you? Well, I'll have to do that again if you don't get your act together. Now, go apologize to Ralph."

Kim, embarrassed as ever, slid over to Ralph without looking up. She gave a few more sorry-sounding screeches. "Rai Chu," Ralph replied, waving his arm in the air; the general message was "don't worry about it".

Kim was very happy to hear that Ralph forgave her. So, apparently, were Charlie and Albert. In fact, those two were so happy that they immediately dragged Kim and Ralph into playing a game with them. Like all the games they played, there were no obvious, fixed rules; it was a bit like hide-and-go-seek, and a bit like tag, but mostly they made it up as they went along.

As those four played, Tom addressed Umanda. She looked extremely bored and disinterested, as usual. "I knew you'd be the hardest to win over," said Tom. "Listen, Umanda: Ralph _never_ said that he was better than you at anything. That's something Manny made up to get you to try harder." Umanda stopped licking her paw for a moment to give Manny a disdainful look. "…But don't turn against him either! Don't have any grudge against anyone on this team, okay? We need to be like a family. Now go over and have fun with the others!"

Umanda continued looking at Tom with a disinterested expression. She wore the same expression when she turned her head to watch the others play; she also gave a whiny _meow_ that conveyed the message, "do I have to?" Albert must've noticed her dilemma, because just then, he Teleported right in front of her. He threw a twig at her – apparently that had become part of the game – snickered, and Teleported away. Fuming, Umanda ran after him. Before long, she was as active in the game as any one of them.

"She'll come to love them," said Tom. "Whether she wants to or not."

"You really did it, Tom," said Manny. "Just look at how much fun they're having." The two of them paused for a moment to watch the playing Pokémon. "Looks like you've really brought all of these totally different Pokémon together."

"Not all of them," said Tom. "Not yet."

"What do you mean?" asked Manny. Tom rolled his eyes in response. "Oh, wait… _me?_ No, Tom… I mean… no. I'm just not like them. I can't connect to other Pokémon the way they can connect to each other."

"Don't give me that crap, Manny," said Tom with a raised voice. "When I gave that speech about the team coming together, I was talking to _everyone_, got it? I'm not going to hear any excuses. You're going to go play with the others, and you're going to enjoy it!"

It was the toughest Tom had ever spoken to Manny. Manny looked surprised, yet strangely pleased. "If you insist," he said. "You're the trainer." And he ran over to join the game.

They hardly did any actual training that afternoon, but it was still one of the most important training sessions they'd ever had.

However, Tom's pleasure as he watched his Pokémon play was punctuated by more than a hint of worry. "Maybe I did this too soon," he said to himself at one point. "I hope they don't get _too_ attached to each other yet. I can't guarantee that I'll be keeping all of them."

* * *

After dinner, Tom decided it was about time that he got his sixth badge.

Fortree Gym was on the ground level, but climbing up to the canopy and walking among the tree houses was required in order to get there. The gym was tall. When the kids got inside, they realized that it made full use of this height. The training room they entered was full of trees, ledges, ladders, pillars, etc. It was meant to be a flying-type gym, and it really showed. Flying-type Pokémon flew around everywhere. I suppose the team was lucky to never get hit by their droppings.

The gym itself was a maze. There was a walkway that led all the way up to the ceiling, but it was far from straightforward. Quite a few times, Tom and his friends found themselves on the ground again when they were trying to get higher up.

Finally, after about half an hour, they found the gym leader, Winona. She was on a chair upon a platform right below the ceiling. The woman's long, purple-dyed hair was topped off by some… interesting headgear. Peter tried not to laugh, while Tom, April and Manny merely tried not to stare. "Um, excuse me…" said Tom, earning her attention.

"Hello there," said Winona. "I see you've navigated your way up here. Few are determined enough to make it this high… but that's the point: I don't want to face anyone who isn't determined. Now, which one of you wanted to face me in battle?"

"That'd be me," said Tom. "I'm Tom Tasby. Nice to meet you."

"Tom Tasby…" Winona said thoughtfully.

"Hey, excuse me for asking," said Peter, "but what's with the helmet?"

"Oh, this? It's simply more convenient to have it on at all times than to be constantly taking it on and off. I need it on quite often, for I ride in the air on my flying Pokémon quite often. I adore heights. The ground is so boring to me – I'd rather spend most of my time high above it. This helmet protects me if I fall back down to it, which would be quite an unpleasant experience. I think that _you_ know what I'm talking about. Yes, I finally realize why you three seem so familiar – you were the ones I saw on the news. You three fought against the Space Pirates."

"Hey, awesome!" said Peter. "We're famous!"

"_More_ famous," Winona corrected. "Yes, I seem to remember seeing at least two of you on T.V. before, a couple weeks ago. Weren't you boys part of the Battle of Goldenrod?"

"We were," said Tom. "I'm surprised you remember that."

"I wouldn't have, if it weren't for your more recent appearance in the news. It sounds like you've really been through a lot… I'm extremely interested to see what you're like in battle now."

"Great," said Tom, "but, uh, where are we going to do that?"

"Follow me."

Nobody had noticed that there was a door on the wall behind Winona, so they were surprised when she opened it. They followed her through it to a ramp that clung to the wall outside, leading up to the roof. The entire roof was one big arena.

"This is where we'll be battling," said Winona, somewhat needlessly. "I'll be using five Pokémon, but you can use however many you wish. Any questions?"

"Nope."

"Then let's get in position, and then we'll begin."

Tom and Winona got on opposite sides of the arena; Peter and April got on the sidelines. Then both battlers released their first Pokémon, and the battle began.

"Go, Swellow!"

"Go, Kim!"

When Kim appeared, so did a bird who was mostly blue, with some red and white mixed in. "Ice Beam!" said Tom.

"Aerial Ace!"

The Swellow dove from the air extremely fast, slashing Kim with its claws before she could even take aim. As it flew away, Kim blasted it with an Ice Beam as fast as she could.

The two trainers ordered the same attacks, and the same thing happened again. However, when the second Ice Beam hit the Swellow, it fell out of the air. "Come back!" said Winona as she withdrew her Swellow. "Go, Skarmory!"

Out came a silver bird not unlike that which Tom had fought the previous night. He knew from experience which of his Pokémon would do best against it. "That's enough, Kim; come back. Go, Ralph!"

As Ralph appeared, Winona ordered her Skarmory to use Sand-Attack. Tom told Ralph to use Thunderbolt, which worked perfectly despite all the sand. So perfectly, in fact, that the Skarmory was down right away. Tom was slightly taken aback by how quick that was.

Winona withdrew her fainted Skarmory. "Go, Altaria!" she said as she released her next Pokémon.

Altaria is a blue, long-necked bird with so many white, puffy feathers on its wings, it looks as though it's stuck inside a cloud. It's also part dragon-type, eliminating its potential weakness to electricity. Nonetheless, Tom gave his order: "Thunder Wave!"

"Earthquake!"

This was cause for quite a bit of worry; Earthquake is the bane of any Raichu's existence. Ralph successfully paralyzed the Altaria, but got very hurt in the meantime. Tom wisely switched him out. "You're up again, Kim!" he cried while releasing his Seadra once again.

"Dragonbreath!"

"Use Ice Beam!"

The Altaria opened its mouth to release what can only be described as a big blue cyclone to attack Kim with; Kim opened her own mouth to shoot out a beam of ice. Thanks to the Altaria's paralysis, Kim struck first, and she struck hardest. The dual attacks continued for nearly fifteen seconds; each Pokémon made only half-hearted attempts at dodging anything. Finally, the Altaria – who had a double-weakness to ice-type attacks – couldn't take any more, and fell out of the air.

Winona withdrew her Altaria and quickly replaced it with her next Pokémon: a four-legged, long-necked Tropius. It was amazing that such a large Pokémon could fly at all, but that was the power of the huge leaves on its back. Tom, upon seeing the creature, made a quick decision: "Use Ice Beam! Give it everything you've got!"

"Magical Leaf!" said Winona.

Kim barely had any energy left, but she was determined to carry out Tom's order and shot forth a surprisingly powerful Ice Beam. It didn't last very long, however; she was down as soon as the first few leaves got to her. "Good job, Kim," Tom said as he withdrew her. "Go, Charlie!"

There wasn't much time until Winona could bring her Tropius back into its Pokéball, as Tom undoubtedly knew. So his immediate order was: "Quickly! Use Flamethrower!"

"Aerial Ace!" said Winona.

The Aerial Ace never happened – Charlie was simply too fast. The Tropius was toast within seconds. "That's enough, Tropius," said Winona. "Go, Pelipper!"

A blue and white bird with a ridiculously wide yellow beak appeared in the arena. Pelipper is water-type, which presented a challenge for Charlie. "Don't attack!" Tom told him. "Just avoid it for a few moments!"

"Water Pulse!" said Winona.

The Pelipper created a ball of water and shot it at Charlie, who flew away to dodge it. This happened a couple more times; the third ball skimmed Charlie, but other than that he was unharmed. Tom finally withdrew him and brought out, for his second appearance of the battle, Ralph. "Thunderbolt!" he said.

Winona ordered another Water Pulse, but she probably knew it would be in vein. A single zap of voltage from Ralph's cheeks brought her fifth and last Pokémon tumbling down. She withdrew it before it hit the ground.

Manny and Tom exchanged high-fives. Peter and April soon joined in. "That was awesome!" said Peter. "Didja see how you beat her five Pokémon with only three?"

"Of course he saw it, Peter," said April. "He was the one _doing_ it."

"It was certainly impressive," said Winona. "You've proven that your reputation isn't for nothing. Those are some very powerful Pokémon you've got."

"Thanks," said Tom, who was still slightly in disbelief over how well he did.

Winona gave Tom the Feather Badge, as well as the T.M. for Aerial Ace. Tom used Charlie to fly off of the roof and onto the ground below; Peter used Murkrow. Charlie then went back up for April; as he did so, Tom spoke to Peter. "I can't _believe_ how much easier than usual that was! What the heck happened?"

"Well, duh," said Peter. "You're just that much _better_ than you used to be."

* * *

Although they would have loved to move on, the group was sort of tethered to Fortree City – the doctor had insisted he check up on Tom and Peter once more the next morning, just to make sure their recovery was going smoothly.

So the three kids went to Route 120 not to travel, but to train. Tom insisted that the other two keep going without him – he wanted to train alone. "Why?" Peter asked.

"It's just… I'm trying to get my Pokémon to be more used to each other," Tom answered. "I'm just going to sit back while my Pokémon train each other, without my help."

"That actually sounds like a good idea. I think I'll join you!"

"No, wait!" Tom cautioned. "I'm trying to get my team to be on their own, here – it won't work if your guys' teams are there too."

"Fine," said Peter. "We'll keep our groups mostly separate. But we can stay here with you while they train. Right, April?"

April shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Tom finally gave up. Five minutes later, they had all released their Pokémon, given them their instructions, and let them loose; now the trainers were lying on their backs in a patch of grass. Tom pulled me out and started searching for information in the Database; Peter and April, as usual, were bickering about something trivial. When Peter finally noticed Tom, he asked, "Hey, wutcha doing?"

"Nothing really…" Tom said, but Peter was already behind him to take a look.

"Of course," said Peter. "Pokémon training stuff. You're not even gonna take a break now that you've got the perfect chance to, huh?"

"Not as long as the Space Pirates are still around," Tom replied. "I feel like I can't."

"Yeah, I know," said Peter. "That's the thing about you – you're way more determined than either of us."

"It's true," said April. "I don't think I'd be half as far as I am now if you hadn't been pushing us forward this whole time. Same with Peter, probably."

"Hey, didn't I tell you to speak for yourself?"

"That's why I used a qualifier! Do you not know the meaning of 'probably'?"

The bickering continued without end. This was lucky for Tom, as Peter and April were too busy bickering with each other to pay him much attention while he studied the most advanced Pokémon training strategies and techniques. Tom continued studying throughout the evening and well into the night, taking only occasional breaks to talk with his two friends or check up on his Pokémon team's progress. He may have used the Space Pirates as an excuse for such diligence, but I realized that was almost certainly not the only reason for it, or even necessarily the main one.

* * *

Tom's studying didn't end with his Pokémon team's training. Even in his bed at the Pokémon Center that night, he stared at my screen, sifting through information, becoming increasingly agitated as he did so. "Maybe if I replace Kim with… no, that wouldn't work..." "Instead of Ralph I could use a… no, that would mean that…."

"Give it a rest already, would ya?" Peter said slowly and tiredly. Seconds later, he was sound asleep.

Tom wasn't. He spent hours reading my screen, always with a determined and often frustrated look on his face. If he was trying to think of ways to perfect his team, he clearly wasn't succeeding. Manny was pretending to sleep in the corner, but was watching Tom through half-closed eyes. As the Pokémon got bigger, more and more of them got put in the special rooms for them provided by the center – but Manny still remained Tom's roommate. Finally, despite trying to fight the urge, Tom fell asleep, still holding me in his hands.

When it was certain that Tom was asleep, Manny sprung to action. He crept by Tom's bed and picked up a few things from the stand beside it: Tom's backpack and his keys. From the backpack, he picked out Tom's Pokéballs. Quietly, he put Ralph and Umanda – the other two Pokémon on his team in the room – back in their Pokéballs, then snuck over to the door and left the room.

* * *

Manny was tapping on the window about fifteen minutes before my alarm was set to ring. The tapping was unsuccessful at waking anybody up. Instead, Manny spoke: "Dexter, if you can hear me, can you wake Tom up a little early?"

A normal human wouldn't have heard his request through the window, so it was a good thing my audio-sensory chip was so damn sophisticated. I obliged; since Manny had asked for Tom, and not Peter, to be awake, I shot a concentrated sound wave at the boy's head.

The effect was immediate. Tom jumped out of bed, disoriented. The first thing he noticed was that I was still in his hand. The second was that his backpack and keys were missing, though he seemed to be too tired and confused to be panicked by this. The third thing he noticed was Manny tapping on the window next to his bed.

Tom hurried over to the window and quickly opened it. Manny was clinging onto the windowsill outside; the bedroom was two stories up. "Come on out here, will ya?" he said. "Your team's waiting for you." Then he jumped down to the ground, revealing a view of all six of Tom's Pokémon right beside the Pokémon Center.

Tom got changed as fast as he could, then rushed out of his room, down the stairs, and out one of the center's side doors. His team awaited him.

"We've been training hard all night," said Manny. "Yeah, even Umanda." Umanda walked over to Tom and rubbed her head against his knee –a rare display of affection, coming from her. Tom patted her head. "See, the thing is, I heard you thinking about replacing some team members last night. I'm not gonna tell you if that's a good or bad idea – you're the trainer, so it's all up to you. But whatever you choose, I just hope you're really confident that it's the right thing to do. I mean, what's the point of changing up your team if you don't even know your team's full potential? You could be really missing out on something. That's why I made us all get out and train last night: I want you to see us at full potential before you decide on any changes. After all… like I said, I'm not a trainer, but you have to think about the team you already have when you're deciding on what team you _want_ to have, right? I don't see why any good trainer would try to keep creating new teams from scratch. I doubt you'd find the perfect team just by thinking about it and doing a bunch of math. And changing it up again and again as soon as you realize it isn't perfect would only hurt the team's cooperation and togetherness… at least, I would think so.

"No matter what, no team you make will be perfect. But I think we can come pretty damn close, if we try hard enough. That's why I spent all of last night trying to get all six of us to fit one of those niches you kept reading about. If I'm gonna be a physical sweeper, I'd need way better speed – which is why I spent pretty much the whole night running. You might not have a physical wall, but I decided Charlie could become one – he spent the whole night blocking physical attacks, both from us and from wild Pokémon. Umanda already makes a good special wall, but Kim could be one, too, so they both blocked special attacks from Ralph and Albert, who trained to be special sweepers, so they did a bunch of running too. So… what do you think?"

It took Tom a few seconds to begin his response – he was clearly a bit taken aback. "You guys are the best. Really, I can't believe you went and did all that. It's… I'm really proud of you." He scratched his chin in thought for a second. "I have to say, though, I don't think you did the niche thing right. For one thing, Charlie should have worked on speed, not defense; he has a lot of energy to get out, and that'd be a more productive use of it. And Ralph doesn't have the kind of daring, quick-to-action attitude a sweeper needs; that's more of Kim's thing. And also…." He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, his eyes widened, and a grin gradually spread across his face. "…I get it now." He ran over to Manny and, to the Machamp's surprise, hugged him tightly. "I get it now! I finally get it – I understand how to beat Jude! And I don't have to change my team at all to do it! Thanks, Manny!"

"Erm, you're welcome," said Manny. "I don't know what you get, exactly, but hey, like I said, you're the trainer!"

* * *

Later that morning, Tom and Peter would have their final checkup with the doctor. But first, before even leaving the Pokémon Center, Tom brought something else up: Kim's evolution. It required trading her while she held the Dragon Scale she'd been carrying when Tom caught her. Peter agreed to trade his Murkrow for her, and then trade back. When this transaction occurred, Kim evolved from a Seadra to a Kingdra. Besides the typical size increase – she was now six feet tall rather than four – her fins and snout were now much more rounded and flowed magnificently, as if she really were royalty. This move inspired Peter to evolve one of his own Pokémon: Murkrow. Using a Dusk Stone Peter had purchased a while ago, the Pokémon went from being small and scrawny to large, chubby, and imposing. He also grew a beard-like crest of white feathers, and his beak became smooth rather than crooked. Murkrow had evolved into Honchkrow.

The doctor confirmed that they were now 100% recovered. With this happy news in mind, the three trainers could finally say their good-byes to Fortree City and move on. The next badge was on an island city – specifically, Mossdeep City. The best way to get there was to go southeast to Lilycove City, a nearby port town, from which they could board a boat to take them the island.

So the three kids got on their bicycles and rode them down Route 120. The rode through a path surrounded by unusually tall grass, then on a wooden bridge over a small lake, then through some marshlands until they got to some more tall grass. And then they were off of their bikes, because April had stopped them. There was a tall, rocky cliff nearby; April beckoned for them to crouch below it. Tom and Peter both started to question why, but she told them "Shut up!" with such seriousness that they did so right away. Then she pointed at the cause of this disturbance.

Up in the air, above another part of the cliff, were two ships and one creature. The ships were obviously of Space Pirate design; the creature had an impressive wingspan and pointed tail. "That's Ridley," April whispered. "Remember, the Space Pirate that came down to Pocket back when Samus did? He's one of the worst Pirates of all."

Ridley and the ships were quickly flying away. "Should we follow them?" asked Tom.

"I don't think so," said April. "It's too late – they're moving away too fast, and whatever they were doing here they've obviously already done. Besides, we'd just get killed by Mewtwo if we tried. But what I want to know is… what are they doing here in the first place?"

"I don't know for sure," said Tom, "but… that's right around where the Ancient Tomb is located. That's this locked-up cave thing that's said to hold a legendary Pokémon inside. Maybe that's what they were after."

"We could keep yackin' about it," said Peter, "or we could ask Samus. Isn't this the kind of thing she said to warn her about?"

"Don't worry," said Tom, "I'm already one step ahead of you."

Samus's distress signal had been integrated into my circuitry, because, well, pretty much anything can be integrated into my circuitry; that's just how damn advanced I am. Samus's face appeared on my screen. "What's going on?" she asked.

Tom explained about Ridley and the Space Pirate vessels. "That's… interesting," said Samus. "Very interesting. Thank you for telling me this; the information won't go to waste. For now, don't bother chasing after them; it won't do you any good. We'll defeat all of the Space Pirates later, but only when they're more vulnerable.

"But as it happens, your call came at just the right time. There's something I need to tell you. Tom – are you with anyone?"

"Yeah," said Tom, "Peter and April are right here."

"Okay," said Samus, "wait a moment." In that moment, both Peter's and April's distress signals fired off an alarm; they pressed a button to hear Samus through the device. "I needed to make sure all four of you could hear this," Samus explained. "Tom, April, Peter, Jude – I can't and won't force any of you do anything, but I'd advise that you all go to Sinnoh if you want to keep up the fight against the Space Pirates. There have been scattered Space Pirate sightings there recently, and it's looking more and more like they're up to something in that region. You're more likely to be of some use there than anywhere else. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Hell yes!" Peter answered before anyone else. "Another region to add to the list!"

"Of course we'll go," said Tom.

"What those two said," said April.

Jude wasn't present, so the other three couldn't know his answer. "Okay," said Samus. "Remember, if you see anything even slightly suspicious, don't be afraid to tell me about it. Until then, stay safe and keep yourselves alive." Then she hung up.

"I hope you guys are as pumped about this as I am," Peter said as he got back onto his bike. "Sinnoh, here we come!"

* * *

Lilycove, being a port town, remained their destination. So the three trainers continued riding their bikes down Route 120. They rode parallel to the towering cliffs the entire time as they went through more tall grass and more wetlands. At the end of Route 120, they turned left to get onto Route 121. There, they rode east through several grassy fields until finally reaching Lilycove City.

Snowpoint City was the obvious choice for their destination in Sinnoh. Not only was it, too, a port town, but it also contained the gym that housed Sinnoh's seventh badge, the one Tom just happened to need. So the first thing they did upon reaching Lilycove City was to head south to its harbor, where they eventually purchased three tickets to a boat ride to Snowpoint. The boat wouldn't leave for several hours; the kids passed the time eating a late lunch, shopping at the huge department store, checking out the beach, and just generally exploring Hoenn's largest city. Finally, late that afternoon, it was time to board the ship.

Tom, Peter, April, and Manny leaned over the edge of the boat, watching the waves in the green sea below them crash into its hull. In front of them was nothing but sea, sea, and more sea all the way to the horizon; I could feel Tom's exhilaration every time he looked at it. "I can't believe we're really leaving Hoenn," said April. "We only got here about a week ago, but it feels like it's been so much longer."

"I know what you mean," said Tom. "Everything's happening really fast. These past few weeks have been like a whole new life; it's almost like everything that happened before then doesn't matter now."

"Tell me about it," said Manny. "Heck, my life's changed way more than you guys. And that's not even counting all the Space Pirate ass-kicking we've been doing. Say, do you suppose we'll have to fight even more of them in Sinnoh?"

"Probably," said Peter. "It doesn't matter, though. We can take all of them! We'll wipe them off the face of Pocket! And do you know why?" He reached into his pockets. "Because we…" (he pulled out two Pokéballs) "…have the balls!"

Tom and April stared at him with blank, unimpressed faces. "Um, Peter?" said April. "You realize that's like the oldest joke in the book, right?"

"Oh, come on," Peter protested. "Everyone's a critic. Hey, have you heard the one about using Flash to make a guy use Harden?"

"Yes, Peter. Everyone has."

"Or about how using Horn Drill…."

"We've all heard it, Peter."

"Or the one where 'pocket monster' actually means…."

"We've _heard it_, Peter."

"I still don't get it," said Manny. "What's so funny about Pokéballs?"


	23. Snowpoint Temple

The Japano capitol building is not actually located anywhere inside Japano; it is located above it. Out at sea, a few miles away from the mountains of Kanto and Johto, a pole about a mile tall juts out of the ocean. At the top of this pole is the capitol building, a huge, saucer-shaped structure that overlooks the whole province.

On the roof of this building was a shipyard. This is where Samus's gunship was now parked. The Governor had, many times, offered Samus to pay for a hotel room and all associated expenses, but Samus preferred the comfort and familiarity of her own ship for living space; she asked only for a parking space instead. Now she was lying on top of her ship, looking out towards the horizon. It was nighttime, and the new moon made it even darker, but the darkness only made the lights of Kanto and Johto seem brighter. The brightly lit-up Olivine Lighthouse was visible even at this distance. From a mile up, it was a beautiful sight to behold. Samus only wished she had the peace of mind to enjoy it.

Earlier that day, she had been informed that her body was corrupted with Phazon. Now she reflected on this worrisome fact. She'd been corrupted before, and only the destruction of the planet Phaaze had cured her. This meant that to be cured again, she'd have to destroy the new source of Phazon… wherever that was. Were she to not succeed in time, the Phazon would spread through her system and eventually corrupt her completely… and if that happened, death would be the best-case scenario. The more likely scenario would be a complete loss of morals and mental stability; basically, the Phazon would drive her mad. She'd seen it happen to several of her friends before. Friends she'd been forced to kill.

Samus turned around to face the tiny speck on the ocean that was Hoenn. Her thoughts turned to her talk with the Governor that night. Several important details had been presented to her. All of them came from the scavenging of the Mossdeep Space Center, which the Governor had ordered after the Pirates were defeated there, while Samus was still in her brief coma.

"The Space Pirates are not fools," the Governor had explained. "They made sure that most of their data was destroyed before we could get our hands on it. However, our tech team did manage to revive small bits of data here and there from the computers the Pirates left at the Space Center. We discovered a few things from this new information. Firstly, we confirmed that the Space Pirates are, in fact, using Metroids to gather what they call 'Life Energy' for their own purposes. This is the reason why Metroids attacked the legendary beasts of Johto, as well as Kyogre. It also explains why the Pirates raided Hoenn's Weather Institute. This institute has some of the most advanced weather-tracking technology on Pocket; such technology is necessary to find clues about the whereabouts of Groudon and Rayquaza, the other two Pokémon in Hoenn's legendary 'weather trio'. Their presence is always surrounded by small disruptions in the weather patterns; the Pirates planned to use this fact to find them and then suck out their Life Energy with Metroids.

"Furthermore, the search for Life Energy explains why there were Space Pirates in Meteor Falls. I am sure you can recall what you found there; the Pirates were clearly mining for buried meteorites, which they were then transporting to their base. Meteors in the Pokésystem, you must understand, have some special, unique properties. To simplify, they actually carry some Life Energy of their own – Life Energy which the Pirates decided to exploit.

"But to what end? While we are now certain that the Pirates are after Life Energy, it is much less clear what they plan to do with it. The information we found in the Space Center implies that they want to power something; they seem to need a huge amount of Life Energy to power a single machine. As for what this machine is, or what it does, sadly, we do not know."

The Governor did not finish there. The Space Center, besides serving as a general headquarters for the Space Pirates, also contained a laboratory they had put to use. The search team found many things in this lab, the most disturbing of which the Governor had kept to show Samus himself. Samus distinctly remembered the shock she felt upon seeing the dead creature. It was small, white, and furry, with large ears and thin, bird-like legs. Samus had seen a similar creature on the Bottle Ship. "That's… a Space Dragon larva!"

"So we suspected," the Governor had said. "Yes, we found this in an egg in the lab; the creature must have died before the egg ever hatched."

"How is this possible? Ridley should be the last of his kind – how could he be reproducing?" But the Governor did not know.

Before leaving that night, Samus had asked one final question. "So they didn't find any information about Oscelon during the search?"

"No, they did not," said the Governor. But something about his tone made Samus inquire further.

"We really have no idea what 'Oscelon' refers to, then? Not even the tiniest clue?"

The Governor's answer had sounded reluctant, as if it pained him to talk about this. "We at the Council of Psy do have… theories. But even these theories are of very vague concepts, and they are nothing but speculation. I apologize, Samus, but until we have some degree of confirmation, I cannot share anything more with you. For the time being, it is all completely confidential." Samus hadn't liked this answer, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

Staring out at the dark sea and dark sky, Samus felt as if this entire mission were shrouded in darkness. There was so much they still did not know. Suddenly, however, there was a bright light shining through the darkness. Samus hadn't noticed it until it was directly above her – the source of the light was a large, fiery bird. Samus scanned the bird; its name was Moltres.

For a moment, Samus stared at Moltres, and Moltres merely stared back. Then Samus's prediction came true: a small object fell from Moltres. Samus caught it before it hit the ground. It was just as she expected: the high-temperature Plasma Beam. _Finally_, she thought to herself. "Thanks a lot," she said to Moltres. Moltres flew away, and though it could not see her, Samus waved good-bye to it.

* * *

With the Plasma Beam, Samus could finally access the hidden room in Solaceon Ruins. At the end of the maze-like ruins, she sent a shot of the fiery beam at the circle of Unown to make the wall slowly disappear. Behind the wall was a small, simple room very much like all of the others in the ruins; the sole difference was a Chozo statue facing Samus. As usual, it was sitting and holding an orange ball. Samus shot off this shell to reveal a pleasant surprise within: the Power Bomb upgrade. Samus could set these off the same way she would a normal morph ball bomb, but they were more than 100 times as powerful.

As Samus predicted, a group of Unown then stuck themselves to the wall above the Chozo statue, forming a message. Samus scanned the message:

OUR ARRIVAL

We have been sent by Oscelon to help shape this newborn planet; we are not entirely certain how we are meant to do this, but we are hopeful that it will become clear to us with time. For now, we cannot help but marvel at Oscelon's magnificent design, from this planet's beauteous environments to its fascinating inhabitants. We have already begun work on the "Pokéball," the device that will bind these inhabitants to the humans who are destined to settle here. This is the one task whose necessity we can all completely agree on; yet we cannot help but have reservations. Will the humans use this bond in the wonderful way it is meant and benefit both themselves and the Pokémon, or will they abuse it and hurt the Pokémon and each other instead? We can attempt to guide the future, but ultimately, it will always remain uncertain; thus, only time will tell.

_These things just keep getting weirder_, Samus thought to herself. She couldn't make heads or tails of this one. Maybe she could if only this Council of Psy would let her in on their theories… but no, it was pointless to dwell on such things now.

* * *

Yet Samus found it hard _not_ to dwell on such things, simply because there was nothing else to do. Once again, she found herself in the unfortunate position of having to sit around and wait for something to happen.

All she could do to pass the time until then was to search for more upgrades. Of all the places Samus searched, only one bore any success: Celestic Ruins. This, like Solaceon Ruins, was located in Sinnoh. Unlike Solaceon Ruins, there was no maze and no Unown – just a very well-hidden Chozo statue. The statue held the Screw Attack upgrade. Now even her jump could be used as a weapon.

A slew of new Space Pirate sightings were reported in Sinnoh, the region Samus had just happened to spend the better part of a day in. None of the sightings had come to a confrontation… yet. Still, Samus decided to tell the four to whom she'd given a distress signal about it. They'd proven themselves capable of fighting Space Pirates, after all; they ought to know where the fights were going to be. So Samus contacted the four teenagers two days after she'd waken up from the hospital.

Later that day, Samus got a distress signal from April Maywood. The location was Snowpoint City.

* * *

April got tremendously seasick on the trip to Sinnoh. Fortunately, there were plenty of medicines on the ship, but the effects were not immediate; she was still somewhat queasy when they arrived at Snowpoint Harbor, and had to lean on Manny when she left the ship.

It was evening when they arrived, so the sun was just over the horizon. The dimming sunlight reflected off of the snow, which – as the name would imply – completely blanketed Snowpoint City. The three kids, thankfully for them, had changed into their winter clothes during the boat ride.

"It's so pretty here," April commented once they were all on land. "We didn't get much snow in Goldenrod."

"Or in Pallet Town, either," said Tom.

"Um, guys?" said Peter. "What the hell is _that?_" He pointed forward; in the distance, near the other end of town, black smoke was rising.

"It can't be…." April started.

"There's only one way to know for sure," said Tom, and he led the charge forward.

Running through about a foot of snow is not easy, but the kids managed it the best they could. The disturbance really was at the exact opposite end of town, so they had to pass by row after row of houses – and, at one point, the city's gym – before finally getting there.

Snowpoint Temple is a sacred monument located at the very northern tip of the city. In all likelihood, none of the kids had heard of it – they just saw a huge stone building in flames, and they saw Space Pirate aircraft surrounding it.

"_Already?_" said Peter. "Geez, we just don't get a break, do we?"

"I'll warn Samus about this," said April, taking out her distress signal.

When they got closer to the temple, a tall woman spread her arms out and blocked their way. "Don't go any further!" she ordered. "It's too dangerous!"

"We can handle it," said Tom. "Now let us through!"

"I don't think you understand," said the woman. "I've been guarding this temple for years. But there are… _things_… in there that I've never seen before. They defeated every one of my Pokémon!"

"Good," said Tom. "That means you can't do anything to stop us."

"Sorry, hun," said Manny. The guard was far too shocked that he spoke to object when Manny picked her up, moved her out of the way, and put her back down.

Manny and the three trainers continued jogging towards the temple. "April… you sure you're up for this?" Peter asked. "I mean, you were just…."

"I'm _fine_, Peter!" she spat back at him. Yet she was much more worn out than the others.

The three trainers took out all of their Pokémon before entering the temple. When they did enter, they found themselves surrounded by flames. The place may have been mostly made of stone, but there was obviously enough wood in the mix to allow a fire to spread. The room at the entrance was falling apart. A couple of large pillars had fallen over, and the floor was covered in water that had once been ice. "Water Pokémon, lead the way!" Tom shouted. "Put out as much fire as you can!"

Kim, Vaporeon, and Milotic got in front of everyone else and spat streams of water everywhere. They subdued the fires in their path as everyone continued moving forward. The only way onwards was through a hall at the end of the room and then down a staircase.

The next room was even more of a mess than the last one. So much of a mess, in fact, that the floors and walls were collapsing, somewhat merging it with most of the other rooms. Wild Pokémon ran about frantically, seeking shelter; the mix of the fire all around them and the stones falling from above was too much for the poor creatures. Pokémon corpses littered the area.

"There!" Manny suddenly cried. He pointed through the holes in the wall and floor to a room both below them and adjacent to them. Not much could be seen through the hole at that angle… except for the back of a Space Pirate. But this was all they needed to see. The three trainers shouted orders to attack as they ran into the next room.

Most of the Pokémon could jump through the hole in the floor just fine, but the rest – along with the trainers – had to take the stairs down. In this room, four Space Pirates had already been taken down by the Pokémon by the time their trainers got there. The fire was worse than ever now, so the kids began removing their winter clothes and throwing them aside. The clothes would be destroyed by the fire, but they were far less valuable than the kids' lives. The three water-types were fighting the fire with all their might, but even that was not enough to put more than a small dent in the flames.

The kids stopped in awe when they saw what lay ahead of them. The walls of the room had pretty much all collapsed; behind one of them, the floor had collapsed as well, merging that room with the already-gigantic room below. It was in this huge room where events were unfolding. The most noticeable feature was the horde of Metroids swarming around near the center of the room. At the very center, on a circular platform, there stood an enormous, white, bipedal Pokémon. It was Regigigas, and surrounding it were three other Pokémon: Regice, Regirock, and Registeel. The legendary Pokémon were struggling against the Metroids who had latched onto them. Surrounding this scene was a circle of Space Pirates. Most of them were merely standing guard, but a few had to fight off some unhappy wild Pokémon. Ridley stood among these Pirates.

The kid slowly walked closer to the edge of the room – dodging the falling pieces of the ceiling – so that the action was right below them and right in front of them. Tom was the first to speak up. "We have to stop this," he said. "C'mon, Pokémon – attack them!"

The Pokémon charged forth, jumping (or flying) down to the ground almost thirty feet below and immediately engaging with the Space Pirates who awaited them. Ridley looked around at the unfolding chaos. "Don't forget our mission, fools," he screeched (in the Pirate tongue). "Protect the Metroids!" Then he took to the air.

About one-third of the Pokémon had yet to jump into the battle, including all three water-types, who remained with their trainers to protect them from the flames. Now Ridley landed on the ledge, blocking their path to the battlefield. He landed so close to the trainers, in fact, that they all scuttled backwards in shock. Ridley spread out his wings, showing off his intimidating twenty-foot wingspan; despite Tom's attempt at a calm demeanor, I could feel the terror in his veins.

"You children better go back home to your mommies," Ridley said in perfect Standard. "They wouldn't be happy if this temple collapsed with you still inside it." He laughed at this morbid thought.

Again, Tom was the one who spoke up. "I know who you are, Ridley!" he shouted, using anger to conceal his fear. "I don't care what you're up to – we're not leaving until we've put a stop to it!"

Ridley chuckled. "Is that so?" He and the six Pokémon (Manny, Jeffrey, and Meganium had stayed behind with the water-types) spent a moment in some sort of standoff. Then Ridley spoke again. "Too bad. I don't have time to babysit." In a fraction of a second, he smashed his tail against the ground; since everything was already so weak from the fire, the force caused the floor below the trainers to collapse.

Luckily, it was not much of a fall: there was a staircase right below the collapsed floor, and this was where the kids and Pokémon found themselves. "Let's go!" Tom cried, and they began descending the staircase. Kim, Vaporeon, and Milotic continued dousing the fire, which hadn't stopped getting worse and worse. The staircase was fairly long, since their destination was fairly far beneath them. By the time they got to the bottom, April had to withdraw Meganium, who simply couldn't handle the heat any longer.

At the bottom of the staircase, their path was blocked by a grotesque creature. It was large and red, with four thin legs, two thin arms, a tail, and eight eyes. What made it so grotesque was the way his gooey skin hung off of him, as if it were melting. His name was Crocomire; although he'd never achieved the rank of general among the Pirates, he'd always been one of their highest-ranking lieutenants.

"Going somewhere?" said Crocomire.

Then all three trainers simultaneously ordered their water-type Pokémon to attack this abomination. The powerful rush of water against Crocomire's skin apparently had devastating results, judging by the fact that he screamed and emitted steam afterwards. He stumbled backwards in pain, allowing those trapped in the staircase to quickly make their way around him and into the huge room beyond.

The scene was chaotic in every way imaginable. The fight itself was chaotic enough; Pirates and Pokémon were now scattered randomly about the room, launching all varieties of attacks against each other. But to add to that, the room was completely falling apart; fire was everywhere, as was debris from the falling ceiling, walls, and pillars. The corpses of wild Pokémon (and a couple of Pirates who'd already been defeated) littered the room as well. And to top it all off, dozens of Metroids floated around the center of the room, continuing to suck the life out of the four Regis while Ridley flew in circles around them. The legendary golems were no longer moving.

Torterra and Magneton, being severely weakened by the heat, were the first Pokémon to go down. Jeffrey acted on his own accord (which was very intriguing, as he'd never acted on his own accord before) and flew to the horde of Metroids, where the Gamma Metroid began stabbing the creatures with his claws. Ridley himself swooped down, grabbed Jeffrey with his own claws, and scraped him against the floor before throwing him against a wall. "Don't get too distracted!" screeched Ridley (who'd switched back to talking in Pirate). "Remember what Mewtwo said – as soon as the job is done, we leave. No dithering!"

April had to withdraw her fainted Pachirisu. But five of the twelve Space Pirates (not counting Ridley or Crocomire) were now dead. Charlie and Honchkrow attacked Ridley, who was attempting to keep Jeffrey away from the other Metroids. Kim and Milotic remained near their masters to continue fighting Crocomire. Manny, who'd been guarding Tom, suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A wild Jynx was trapped behind two burning pillars; it got scorched no matter which direction it tried to move in. The ceiling above her was crumbling.

Manny nervously looked from the Jynx to Crocomire and back. Now a large, flaming chunk of ceiling fell down and threatened to crush the Jynx.

"Manny, crush its head!" ordered Tom, pointing at Crocomire. Crocomire had his back turned; the idea was to sneak up behind him. Manny had other ideas. He ran over to the Jynx, grabbed it, and brought it to safety at the last moment. It would've been crushed not even a second later were it not for him. Tom noticed his Machamp's disobedience with some slight annoyance, but then got back to the fight at hand. He also withdrew Ralph, the latest casualty. Honchkrow had to be withdrawn as well, having suffered the wrath of Ridley's talons.

Most of the Metroids were near the Regis, but there were a few strays. Flareon had just dealt the final Flamethrower to a Pirate (he'd been doing pretty well – his Flash Fire ability allowed him to absorb the fire around him for an energy boost) when one of these stray Metroids latched onto him. April squeaked in shock when she noticed, but no action had to be taken on her part. A wild Weavile – a sleek, blue, humanoid Pokémon – slashed the Metroid with its sharp claws, knocking it off of Flareon. After a brief skirmish, the Weavile froze the Metroid and then smashed it into pieces.

"The Metroids are finished!" Ridley shrieked. "It's time to leave!"

Indeed, all of the Metroids were floating up into a hole in the ceiling and disappearing from view. "Wait up a minute!" shouted Crocomire. "These jerks attacked me! No way am I leaving till they're dead!"

"Crocomire, you _idiot_! We have orders to get the hell out of here the _moment_ we have what we need! You are _not_ going to hold us up!"

There was a sizeable explosion overhead, showering the room with fragments of the rock ceiling. Several Pokémon stopped what they were doing to protect their master from the debris. When the debris cleared (not that the room was ever free of them, thanks to the ever-growing fire), the trainers could see the ropes that had fallen down through the ceiling. The Pirates were grabbing onto these ropes. All three trainers ordered their Pokémon to attack, but it had little effect: the ropes rose back up extremely fast, and just like that, the five surviving Space Pirates were no longer present.

Ridley and Crocomire, however, were still present. "C'mon, let me at 'em!" said Crocomire. "I can take 'em! I can finish 'em off in no time!" This was an incredibly stupid thing to say – his skin was already literally melting off of his bone, and now all of the remaining Pokémon were beginning to gang up on him.

"I warned you, moron," said Ridley, and with that he flew up through the ceiling and disappeared.

Crocomire continued fighting against the Pokémon, but the battle didn't last long. His skin was boiling before long, and that plus the intensity of his screams made it clear he was dying. My super-sensitive hearing picked up Ridley's distant voice from somewhere outside the temple: "Forget him. Just set off the bomb!"

"THEY'RE SETTING OFF A BOMB," I said at my maximum possible volume, making sure I was heard above the noise of the battle and the fire.

"_WHAT?_" Tom, Peter, April, and Manny gasped simultaneously.

Samus Aran walked into the room. "What's going on here?" she asked. Then the bomb went off.

The scale of the explosion was incredible. Five stories of stone architecture were thoroughly blown to bits. By the time all of the debris had settled, about half of the temple had been destroyed. And surrounded by the huge mounds of still-burning rubble, untouched and unscathed, was our room and everyone in it. Everyone had survived the explosion without even minor harm… except Crocomire, who was now nothing more than a collection of bones.

As everyone else looked around confusedly, April ran over to her Kirlia. Kirlia was leaning over and looking extremely exhausted; April bent down to pat her. "You poor thing," April said. "She… she put up a protective barrier over the whole room to save us. I had no idea she had that much power in her."

"Well, I think that Albert helped," said Tom. Albert held a spoon up triumphantly before keeling over with exhaustion. His Reflect had indeed helped, but Kirlia had still done most of the work. The Ralts evolutionary family has a unique, valuable ability to summon a gigantic amount of psychic energy from within if they feel that their trainer is in mortal danger.

April stepped back when Kirlia began glowing white. Her trainer watched as she grew to over twice her previous height until she was almost as tall as April. Her legs disappeared under what looked like a long gown. When the glow faded, it revealed her evolution into a Gardevoir. Then Gardevoir fell over; she'd been through too much.

"I got here too late," said Samus. "I'm sorry I couldn't help. I should have come here faster."

"Hey, we were able to take care of ourselves," said Peter, "so no biggie, right?"

While they were talking, April noticed the Weavile who had helped her Flareon crawling nearby. Many of the ice-type Pokémon inhabiting the temple had been killed by the fire, if not by the bomb, and the rest were greatly wounded. "Let me help you," April whispered, and she threw an Ultra Ball at the Weavile. The wild Pokémon didn't put up a fight – the Pokéball clicked almost immediately.

They were surrounded by mounds of rubble several stories high; fire was still burning in much of it. The fire was much more intense in the half of the temple spared by the bomb. At this point, there was nothing they could do to save it or the Pokémon inside it. "We'd better get going," said Samus. "I'll help you all get out of here."

* * *

"It's the Life Energy they're after," Samus explained. "I'm not sure what it is exactly, but apparently that's the substance Metroids suck out of their pray. The Metroids can be used to store or transfer this energy, if you have control over them. They've been targeting legendary Pokémon, and the Regis fit that bill. I only wish I knew _why_."

Samus, the three kids, and Manny were back in Snowpoint City; behind them, a number of fire trucks were parked, and both hoses and water-type Pokémon were fighting the fire that threatened to burn down the remaining half of Snowpoint Temple. It was getting dark, and the crescent moon was starting to peak over the horizon.

Out of nowhere, April vomited. "So much for being 'fine'," Peter muttered.

"Oh, hush," said April, wiping her mouth. "I was fine enough to make it through all that. Besides, I actually feel a lot better now that it's all out of my system."

"I can't imagine that any of you are in a very healthy state right now," said Samus. "You were just breathing in a lot of smoke."

"I don't know what you're talk…" Peter began, but his sentence was interrupted by a furious coughing fit, proving Samus's point.

"Did they really have to burn the whole place down, though?" Tom asked. "Was that just for the fun of it, or what? Couldn't they have gotten what they needed without killing so many innocent Pokémon?"

"Not exactly," said Samus. "Metroids simply don't function in the cold. Low temperatures are the one thing they're extremely weak to. So the Pirates decided to turn up the heat in there to get the Metroids to do their jobs… no matter how many Pokémon had to die in the process."

"What about the bomb? Was that just to get rid of us?"

"Yes, probably. I don't know if they knew I was in there, but they did know _you_ were in there, and after your little confrontation with Kraid, I have no doubt that they want all of you dead."

After two seconds of silence, Samus suddenly announced, "I'm getting a distress signal! It's from Jude… at Lake Acuity. That's not very far!" And she began sprinting away. The others followed, but couldn't hope to keep up with her tremendous speed.

* * *

Not only was Samus super-fast, but she also now had the Screw Attack at her disposal. This allowed her to stay in the air for an unnaturally long time. When she got to Lake Acuity, she quintuple-jumped from the shore to the small island in the lake's center. The three trainers had to ride on their water-type Pokémon to get across – a far slower method. When they got to the small island, there was no action; there was only Samus, Jude, and a pile of smoldering rocks that had once been a cave.

"What happened?" asked Tom.

"They got away before I could do anything," Jude said bitterly. "Pretty much the moment I got to this island, they blew the place up and ran away like the cowards they are. That big dragon-like thing, Ridley, was there, and so were a bunch of others."

"No Metroids?" Samus asked.

Jude shook his head. "I didn't see any."

"Do you have any idea what they were after?"

"I can guess," said Jude. "This island's supposed to be the home of Uxie, one of the three legendary lake Pokémon in Sinnoh. Or so I've heard."

"Thanks," said Samus. "I'll try to get all of this information sorted out. In the meantime, I have some important advice for you four. If you see Ridley, or a Space Pirate, or anything associated with Space Pirates, send the distress signal, and _do not attack them on your own_. If you become too much of a threat, Mewtwo will deal with you himself, and he _will_ kill every one of you and every one of your Pokémon. Please, don't put yourselves in that position." And with that, she quintuple-jumped back to the lake shore and disappeared from view.


	24. Northern Sinnoh

Jude said only one word to them – "Later" – before getting on his Skarmory and flying away. Tom and Peter took out Charlie and Honchkrow to follow suit. Peter, however, insisted that April fly back to Snowpoint on Honchkrow while he took the slower path instead, Surfing and walking his way back. He told April that she was too sick to make that journey herself, especially without her coat (everyone was shivering fiercely; their coats were victims of the Snowpoint Temple fire). April insisted that she was no longer feeling even a little sick, but in the end, she was too pleased to see Peter actually doing something nice for her for once to not accept the offer.

So Tom and April flew over the white landscape in the twilight until they reached the Snowpoint Pokémon Center. There, they got their Pokémon healed, found a table to sit down at, and slouched in their seats. They were very, very exhausted. "Do you... do you plan on getting some training done tonight?" April asked with some worry in her voice.

"No," Tom told her. "The Pokémon have been through too much for one night already. They deserve a little break." April sighed with relief.

For the next half-hour, they just slouched there without talking or even moving much. It wasn't just their bodies that were exhausted. I think that all of the death, violence, fear, and tension was finally getting to them. They were just kids; who could blame them?

When Peter got back, Tom gave his suggestion for how they spend the rest of the evening. Since he figured the Pokémon Center's arena wasn't being used (he was right), they might as well go in there to let their Pokémon loose while they just relaxed. April and Peter agreed, so to the arena they went.

Soon, seventeen Pokémon were intermingling all around the arena while Tom, Peter, April, and Manny sat with their backs leaning on the wall. They quipped and talked a little, but not much. The events of that night both hung over them and weighed down on them, generally devouring any other mood they might have had.

April had replaced Sudowoodo with her new Weavile. Weavile stood in a corner, where she silently observed the surrounding activity without participating in it. Pachirisu sought to end this. Dragging along a reluctant Ralph, she confronted Weavile, hopped excitedly around her, and tried to get her to play. Weavile glared menacingly at the pair before slowly walking away. Pachirisu, defeated, decided to continue playing with Ralph instead.

Tom kept his eyes on Ralph and Pachirisu. "You realize," he said to April, "those two are going to make an egg the moment we leave them alone together."

"I know," said April, half-smiling. "Let's wait until after the whole Space Pirate thing blows over, though. I really don't want even more on my hands right now."

Later on, while Peter and April were bickering about something Flareon accidentally did to Torterra, Manny nudged Tom and gestured for them to scoot away so they could talk alone. "Tom," Manny said, "I just wanted to say, I'm _really_ sorry about disobeying you earlier. I don't know what got into me. I…."

"It's okay," said Tom. "You're talking about when you saved that Jynx, right? I hadn't noticed what was going on. You made the right decision."

"But I should have been protecting you! You don't understand… I'm a trained Pokémon now, and my trainer's safety is _always_ the top thing on my mind in those kinds of fights. I thought that I had your back no matter what. I never thought I'd put the life of a Jynx over yours!"

"Hey, that's not really a fair thing to say. I had plenty of help already – the Jynx had none, and desperately needed it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It all worked out in the end. I'm just kinda freaked out that I disobeyed orders when I didn't even think I _could_. Especially not in that kind of risky situation. And anyways, why her, when there were so many other wild Pokémon dying all around us?"

"I don't know, Manny." Tom sighed. "I can take a guess, though. We're both guys. Sometimes we'll do weird, unusual things for a pretty face."

* * *

It was very, very late in the night when a soothing, mysterious singing began. It could be heard from Tom and Peter's room, but neither of them woke up for it. Manny did. He crept over to the window and peaked through the shades to find the source of the music: a dark-faced, blonde-haired Pokémon in a long red gown. It was the same Jynx whose life he'd saved earlier that evening. She was outside the Pokémon Center, facing it while she sang her melancholy song.

Manny looked around to make sure that Tom and Peter were still sound asleep. Then, slowly and silently, he opened the window. He snuck outside through it, and when he had a hold on the windowsill, he closed it. Then he hopped down to the ground – a foot of snow cushioned his fall, not that he needed it – to meet with the Jynx.

* * *

Several hours later, right before sunrise, Manny returned. He came back through the window, closing it behind him. Then he went back to his mattress and fell asleep again as if nothing had happened. Come morning, I would be the only one who knew he had ever left the room. I wasn't going to say anything if he didn't.

* * *

The first thing everyone did that morning (after breakfast) was to go out to the store and buy some new winter coats. This, for obvious reasons, was a necessity. Especially since the weather station was predicting a huge blizzard to cover the whole area later that day.

After shopping, the plan was to go straight to the gym, where they would spend a short amount of time training before Tom fought for his next badge. "Now we'll see if the last badge really was just a fluke," Tom had said, referring to the ease with which he'd beaten the last gym leader. Their bodies now protected from the below-freezing temperature outside, the three trainers and one Machamp left the store and made their way to the other end of town.

"It's funny," Manny said as they walked. "Jynx are the only Pokémon who can't communicate in Pokémon Speak. They have their own language that nobody else understands and that humans can't figure out. It sounds kinda like human language, but it's not. Really, they're as close to human as you can get while still being a Pokémon. Kinda like me. And they communicate differently than other Pokémon – also like me. I guess what I'm trying to say is, we have a lot in common."

"Still have your mind on that lady you saved, huh?" Tom said, smiling. "Does my little Manny have a girlfriend now?"

"Hey, what about _you_?" said Manny, hastily changing the subject. "I know you're not doing any more research on Pokémon training or any of that stuff. So how come you were typing away on Dexter last night, eh? Got something to share with us?" That shut Tom up; he didn't bring up the subject again.

Snowpoint Gym specialized in – big surprise – ice-type Pokémon. To show for it, the entire place was one big ice rink inside. Ice skates were provided by the gym. Peter opted not to use them. "Wheee, this is awesome!" he said while spinning around on the ice in his sneakers. Then he crashed into a wall. The others rushed over to help, but he pushed himself off of the wall to slide again, spinning in place again as well. "_Still _awesome," he insisted before crashing hard into a boulder.

Tom trained at the gym to warm up for his coming match; Peter and April took the opportunity to train as well. April spent most of the time focusing on her new Weavile, who turned out to be very powerful. When April battled against another trainer in the gym, Weavile slashed through all of her opponents as if they weren't even there. The great strength of the Pokémon inhabiting Snowpoint Temple was part of the reason it had been closed off to the public; Weavile was no exception.

When Tom had finished warming his Pokémon up (er, so to speak), he gathered them up and skated towards the gym leader, bringing April and Peter along with him. Candice was waiting at the very back of the room; she had black hair braided into two pigtails, and wore unseasonably light clothing. "Um, why is she wearing such a short skirt in this freezing cold place?" muttered April.

"Don't discourage her," Peter whispered.

Right before reaching Candice, Tom finally slipped and fell on his butt. "Yeah, that happens a lot," said Candice, looking down at him. She gave him her hand to help him up. "Sorry about that. My name is Candice, by the way. I'm the gym leader here."

"I know," said Tom. "I came over here to challenge you."

"Well why didn't you say so?" said Whitney. She blew a whistle hanging around her neck. "Alright everyone, I have a challenger, and you know what that means – everyone get behind the red line! Sorry if it causes any inconvenience. I hope you still have fun!"

The aforementioned red line split the gym roughly in half; all of the trainers in Candice's half switched to the other side. There, most people continued training and battling as if nothing had happened, but a sizeable portion got near the red line to watch the battle.

"Hey," Candice said to Tom, "have I seen you somewhere before? You look familiar."

It was Peter who spoke up: "You bet he does! The three of us have been fighting Space Pirates all over the place. We were all over T.V. when we fought against Kraid."

Candice's face lit up with understanding. "That's right! I remember now!"

"Wow," said April, "that news made it to Sinnoh too?"

"Yup," said Candice. "Sinnoh, Kanto, Johto, and all of Japano – heck, all of Pocket. The whole planet's worried about these Space Pirates right now, and anyone who fights back against them is a hero by our standards." She skated around her half of the gym, jumping and twirling like a professional. She ended up across from Tom, putting an arena of ice between them. "Okay everyone," she yelled, "some of you may recognize this challenger. He's a known Space Pirate-killer and one of the kids who fought against the fat green Space Pirate known as Kraid. He was most recently seen in the wreckage of Snowpoint Temple, probably giving the Pirates hell in there too." ("That was on T.V.?" asked April. Apparently it was.) "Now it's time to find out if his reputation is actually deserved!" The growing crowd behind the red line cheered.

Tom blushed slightly. But to my surprise, he also smiled and said, "Of course it is! In fact, however many Pokémon you're using, I bet I can beat you with only half of that!"

"Oh, really? Well, I'll be using four Pokémon, so that means you'd have to beat me with only two of yours. I won't disqualify you if you use more than that, but you sure would be letting this crowd down."

"No way that's happening," said Tom. "Ready?"

"Yeah, let's do this. Go, Sneasel!"

"Get out there, Manny!"

Candice sent out Weavil's pre-evolved form. Manny slid into the arena; he had trouble keeping his balance, but eventually reached one of the boulders scattered around the room and stood on it. "Try to stay by the boulders," Tom advised him.

"Aerial Ace!" said Candice.

"Cross Chop!" said Tom.

The Sneasel jumped high into the air; Manny crossed his arms. As the Sneasel came down at him with intense speed, Manny jumped off of the rock. The two Pokémon met in midair, where the Sneasel slashed Manny and Manny chopped the Sneasel. It was clear which attack did more damage; Manny slid gracefully until he reached a boulder, while the Sneasel merely fell to the ground on its back. It had been knocked out with a single move. Even with its double-weakness to fighting-type moves, that was quite impressive.

Candice withdrew her Sneasel and sent out her next Pokémon: a Froslass. It had a legless, dress-like body, fin-like arms, and a teardrop-shaped head. It was also part ghost-type, meaning that fighting-type moves would be useless against it. "Use Rock Slide!" Tom ordered.

"Psychic!" said Candice.

For a few moments, Manny used the boulder as (ineffective) cover as he threw rocks at the Froslass, who blasted him with psychic energy in return. The attack sent Manny sliding backwards on the ice. Then Tom said "That's enough, Manny!" and withdrew his Machamp. "Go, Charlie!"

With Charlie now on the battlefield (perched on a boulder), Candice told her Froslass to use Blizzard. In return, Tom told Charlie to use Flamethrower. Charlie burned his opponent from the air as sharp, icy snowflakes fell on him. The snow continuously got harder. But the Blizzard never reached its peak – the Froslass fainted before it did.

Back went the Frosslass, and out went what appeared to be a mass of brown fur with tusks, but was actually a Piloswine. "Stone Edge!" Candice told it.

"Fire Blast!" said Tom.

Charlie flew over his foe as he delivered the attack. Amazingly, while the Piloswine burned, none of the ice on the ground melted; obviously, it was not typical ice. After all, they probably got fire-types all the time. Anyways, after Charlie's huge blast of flames, he got hit with rock after rock from below. The rocks hit his wings and took him out of the air; when he fell, he slid until he hit a wall. He was hurt, but not nearly as much as the Piloswine, who was barely hanging on. At Tom's command, Charlie quickly ended the duel with a Flamethrower before the Piloswine could throw so much as one more rock.

Candice had one Pokémon left. When it appeared, Tom saw that it was an Abomasnow – a very large, white, bipedal Pokémon. Tom ordered a Fire Blast. Candice ordered a Water Pulse. Charlie flew over the Abomasnow so fast, it was still trying to aim when the intense blast of fire hit it. Charlie continued his speedy flight. The Abomasnow was burning down, but tried to fire one ball of water before fainting. The Water Pulse missed, and the Abomasnow fainted, ending the battle.

The audience burst into applause, April and Peter the hardest among them. Candice gracefully skated over to Tom and Charlie. "Looks like you aren't all talk after all," she said. "You really are famous for a reason."

"Not _that_ famous," Tom replied.

"Not yet, no. But I got a feeling that might change. The way I see it, you got nowhere to go but up!"

She gave Tom the Icicle Badge and the T.M. for Avalanche before he and his friends left the gym.

* * *

When the kids walked back to the Pokémon Center, the snowstorm had already begun; it was snowing lightly for now, but that was going to change. Once at the center, they got their Pokémon healed and then talked about what to do next.

"We have a long road ahead of us," said Tom. "And the snow will only make it take longer. We have to pass by the Acuity Lakefront to get to Route 217, which is really long, but then we have to go through Route 216, which is also pretty long, before we get to Mt. Coronet. Then we have to go through the caves of Mt. Coronet before we can go anywhere else."

"…Can we really do all of that in one day?" asked April.

"Probably not. But it looks like there's a cabin at the foot of Mt. Coronet where we can stay overnight if we need to."

"That's all the assurance I need," said Peter, standing up from his chair. "Let's get going!"

"Not so fast," said April.

Peter sat back down. "Okay, but why not?"

"Last time we battled, I didn't have either Milotic or Weavile. And the rest of my team's gotten stronger, too. So I think it's about time we had a rematch."

Peter smiled. "Why didn't you say so? C'mon, there's an empty arena just waiting for us – let's go!"

* * *

"Six-on-six!" April cried from across the arena. "We're using our whole team here – no holding back!"

"Wouldn't want it any other way," said Peter.

Both trainers took out a Pokéball. The battle began when April sent out Gardevoir and Peter sent out Torterra.

"Calm Mind!" said April.

"Leech Seed!" said Peter.

Torterra threw a bunch of seeds at Gardevoir; they would latch onto her and very gradually drain her health and transfer it to Torterra. Gardevoir made no attempt to dodge the attack – she was too busy focusing her psychic powers on increasing her defense.

Then the fighting began, with Torterra using Earthquake and Gardevoir using Psychic. However, both Pokémon fought defensively. Gardevoir dodged attacks whenever she could; this was relatively easier for her than for the much slower Torterra. Both Pokémon knew self-healing moves – Torterra knew Synthesis and Gardevoir knew Wish – and both used them more than once during the fight, which dragged on and on. After several minutes of intense fighting, both of them stopped for a moment to catch their breath; they were both very beaten up. But the Leech Seed was still in effect, and in the end, that pushed Gardevoir over the edge – she fainted, leaving Torterra the victor.

April withdrew Gardevoir. "Go, Weavile!"

As Weavile made her appearance, Peter withdrew his exhausted Torterra. "Go, Magneton!"

April growled. There wasn't much she could do against a steel-type. "Use Gyro Ball!" said Peter.

"Don't attack, just dodge!" shouted April.

Magneton started spinning and moved towards Weavile. But Magneton was not nearly as speedy as its foe, and it became increasingly obvious that it wouldn't be able to catch up with her. "Never mind, use Magnet Bomb!" said Peter.

Magneton shot a bunch of small steel balls at Weavile; they homed in on her, so she couldn't dodge them. They lightly exploded upon impact. "That's enough," said April, withdrawing her wounded Weavile. "Go, Flareon!"

But April wasn't the only one to switch her Pokémon out. At that same moment, Peter withdrew Magneton. "Go, Golem!"

April was in a bad situation again; nonetheless, she ordered Flareon to use Fire Blast. Peter simultaneously ordered Golem to use Earthquake. Flareon was quick enough to blast his opponent with fire twice by the time Golem, slow and lumbering as she is, had used Earthquake once. Golem was still fine after that, but Flareon was barely standing. Then April's thirty seconds were up. She immediately withdrew Flareon and sent out Milotic to replace him.

"Another Earthquake!" said Peter. Tom cocked an eyebrow.

"Surf!" said April.

Golem had no time to attack, for she was then taken away by a large wave created by Milotic. When she finally hit the ground again, she was no longer conscious. Peter withdrew her. "Let's do this again, Magneton!"

When Magneton appeared, April told Milotic to use Hydro Pump; Peter told Magneton to use Thunder. Both extremely powerful elemental attacks hit their target, though Thunder, obviously, did much more damage; nonetheless, Milotic was still conscious afterwards, though only barely. April withdrew her. "Go, Meganium!"

"Thunder!" Peter shouted as Meganium was being beamed into the arena.

"Sunny Day!" said April.

Magneton attempted to bring a tremendous bolt of lightning down from the ceiling to strike its foe, but missed. Meanwhile, a corner of the ceiling shone brightly, as if it were the sun. Not only was the room brighter, but the fake sun would reduce the moisture in the air, making it harder to conjure Thunder from clouds of vapor. Peter ordered a Gyro Ball attack. As Magneton rotated rapidly and tried to tackle its opponent, Meganium both tried (and failed) to avoid the attack and also set up two barriers: Reflect and Light Screen. Together, they would weaken any damage taken by April's team. Still, Magneton's Gyro Ball had hurt Meganium quite a bit. "Synthesis!" cried April.

Normally, Synthesis would only heal a Pokémon by a small amount; however, the sunlight gave Meganium's chlorophyll the boost it needed to heal all of her wounds completely. April then ordered her Pokémon to use SolarBeam – which would normally have taken a while to complete, but with the fake sunlight right there, it was as quick as any other move. For a while, Magneton continued using Gyro Ball, and Meganium continued using SolarBeam. Eventually, Meganium won, and Magneton fainted; afterwards, April ordered another Synthesis to heal all of the damage Meganium had taken.

Next, Peter sent out Jeffrey. At Peter's orders, Jeffrey immediately began stabbing, slashing, and hacking at Meganium with his horns and long claws. Meganium fought back with powerful, close-range beams of solar energy. The ensuing battle was fierce, and it lasted about a minute. However, Jeffrey left no time in-between attacks for Meganium to heal herself; as she tried to use Synthesis in desperation, he jabbed at her one more time, and down she went.

While April withdrew her Meganium, Jeffrey gave off a familiar white glow. In less than a second, he was entirely white. Something dropped to the ground and stopped glowing – he'd shed his skin. The newly-shed Metroid now completely changed shape: instead of a shell, he grew a full body and a head, while his claws grew into actual limbs – two arms and two legs. He also grew a short, thin tail. When the glow disappeared, he was no longer a Gamma Metroid; he had evolved into a Zeta Metroid. He fell to the ground, landing on his new legs; he no longer had the ability to float.

"Yes!" Peter celebrated. "Jeffrey you look _great_!" As he talked, April sent out her Weavile. "Okay, Jeffrey," said Peter, "show us what you've got!"

Tom cocked his other eyebrow. "Ice Beam!" said April.

Jeffrey jumped over to his foe with surprising speed, then spat acid at her and slashed her with his claws. Weavile responded with a powerful, concentrated beam of ice. The attack knocked Jeffrey back several feet and almost encased him in ice; however, as the ice was entrapping his body, he broke free of it and made to attack again. In a flash, Weavile had already put a third of the arena between her and the Metroid; she then fired another Ice Beam. The attack hit Jeffrey and launched him backwards once more, but this time, he did not break free of the ice that appeared around him. He couldn't – he was no longer conscious. Peter withdrew him. "Go, Vaporeon!" he shouted.

April withdrew Weavile. "Go, Pachirisu!"

"Dig!" said Peter.

"Thunder!" said April.

Vaporeon burrowed into the ground. "Don't come up till I give the signal!" Peter ordered.

It was a clever tactic, I must admit. For thirty seconds, Pachirisu tried sending electrical attacks down the hole in the floor without success. Then, as soon as the thirty seconds were up, Peter yelled "Now!" and Vaporeon popped out of the ground directly beneath Pachirisu, smashing into her from below. Peter withdrew Vaporeon before Pachirisu could strike back. Next, he sent out Torterra.

April quickly withdrew Pachirisu and replaced her with Weavile. "Ice Beam!" she shouted. Peter never gave an order of his own – Weavile had attacked before April even finished giving the command. Torterra was so weak from his last skirmish that the attack would have likely knocked him out even if the double-weakness hadn't been present.

Peter withdrew Torterra and sent Vaporeon back out. He now had two Pokémon left, while April had four; however, while Peter's two were still perfectly healthy, all of April's had been weakened to some extent, and all but Pachirisu were hurt pretty badly. In other words, they were more or less even.

"Night Slash!" April ordered.

"Surf!" said Peter.

As usual, the mega-fast Weavile struck first, giving Vaporeon a taste of her sharp claws. But then Vaporeon got her trapped in a large wave of water; when it crashed Weavile into the ground, she'd had enough and finally fainted.

When Weavile was back in her Pokéball, Pachirisu appeared on the battlefield again. "Dig!" Peter immediately cried.

"Follow it!" said April.

Vaporeon dug another hole into the floor (which was made of a self-repairing material, so the last hole had already disappeared). Pachirisu dropped down the same hole in pursuit of her opponent. For several moments, nobody above ground could tell what was going on. Then, finally, both Pokémon popped out of the ground in a cloud of both dirt and sparks. Both of them seemed to have taken some damage, either during their chase underground or while emerging at the surface. Then Pachirisu detached herself from Vaporeon and brought down a furious bolt of Thunder from above, ending Vaporeon's time in the arena.

Peter was down to his last Pokémon: "Let's finish this, Honchkrow!"

As soon as the big black bird was beamed onto the battlefield, April ordered Pachirisu to use Thunderbolt. Peter told Honchkrow to use Swagger. Honchkrow could not avoid the bolt of electricity his opponent brought him; at the same time, however, he made an odd _caw_ sound that released quite a lot of breath. The air from the breath made its way over to Pachirisu; when she breathed it, she became angry and confused.

"Tailwind!" said Peter.

"Keep using Thunderbolt!" said April.

But Pachirisu did not keep using Thunderbolt. Instead, in her state of confusion and frustration, her attempts to attack only caused her to hit her head against the floor. Meanwhile, a wind began blowing from behind Honchkrow. Peter ordered a Night Slash, which, thanks to the wind, Honchkrow delivered to his foe with tremendous speed. Pachirisu tried to attack again, and failed again; Honchkrow once again struck her with his talons, and that was the end of that.

April had two Pokémon left, but both had been severely wounded. To replace Pachirisu, she sent out Milotic. "Night Slash!" Peter ordered.

"Ice Beam!" said April.

Since the Tailwind was still in effect, Honchkrow swooped down quicker than ever to slash at his foe. Milotic's Ice Beam only skid on Honchkrow's wing; as soon as she got hit, the Ice Beam came to a stop, as did her consciousness.

April withdrew Milotic. Out came her last Pokémon: Flareon, who was every bit as hurt as Milotic had been. "One more Night Slash!" said Peter.

"Quick Attack!" said April.

Honchkrow, sped up by the Tailwind, swooped toward Flareon. Flareon jumped into the air. It all happened in less than a second; afterwards, Flareon landed on his feet. Honchkrow landed on his back. Flareon had attacked the quickest and narrowly won. The battle was over, and April was the victor.

April merely smiled as Peter, Tom, and Manny all ran over to congratulate her. "Thanks, guys," she said after all of them had spoken. "Yeah, that was a really great battle. Peter, you, um, put up a really great fight."

"Yeah, that was a close one!" said Peter. "But in the end I guess I wasn't good enough, huh?"

"Yeah," said April. Half-heartedly smiling, she looked down at the floor.

Peter stared at her inquisitively. "Oh come on, you _won_! Be happier, for goodness sakes!"

"I _am_ happy," April insisted. "Really. You don't have to worry about it, Peter."

For five long, awkward seconds, they merely looked into each other's eyes in silence. Tom had to loudly clear his throat to remind them that they weren't alone. (It's too bad he did – had one more second passed, I was going to play a corny love song just to make things more awkward.)

"Right, anyways, good battle," said a slightly red-faced April. "But the sooner we leave, the better – the snow outside is only going to keep piling up."

* * *

The snow was, indeed, already piling up by the time they left (after a quick meal). The blizzard was now raging at full force, meaning that not only was the ground entirely white, but so was most of the air itself. The snow was now at least up to everyone's knees. They'd bought themselves snowshoes for a reason.

"You know, we don't have to go right now," Manny pointed out. "It's snowing pretty dang hard; if you guys want, we could just stay here until the storm blows over."

"Nah," said Tom. "We've been through worse than snow. We can handle this."

"Yeah, where's your sense of adventure?" asked Peter. "And c'mon, is someone as big and tough as you really worried about some white fluffy stuff?"

"Whoa, hey, I wasn't worried about _me_," Manny retorted. "I was just thinking about you guys. I feel like I can never really judge how little your fleshy species can handle; it always seems to be even less than I remember."

"Hey, I resent that!" said Peter. "In fact, I'm taking that as a challenge. C'mon, guys, let's show him how tough humans really are!"

I decided to test this behavior's limit: "So if I told you you'd be weak if you couldn't dunk your head in freezing water for an hour, you'd take it as a challenge and try?"

"He's not _that_ stupid, Dexter," said Tom.

"I'm not?" said a surprised Peter.

* * *

The initial walk was slow. This was to be expected, considering both the intensity of the snowstorm and the height of the snow on the ground (the snowshoes could only do so much). To speed things up, Charlie and Flareon were brought out to help clear a path. They could only help so much as well, since it takes time for snow to melt; still, they made it significantly easier to trudge on ahead.

With fierce winds, freezing coldness, and seemingly infinite, vision-impairing whiteness working against them, the gang eventually managed to make it out of Snowpoint City. Next, they were at the Acuity Lakefront, which got much less attention from plows and shovels than the city did. This meant that the snow was suddenly up to their waists rather than their knees. Also, they were now in wild Pokémon territory. Flareon, Charlie, and Manny stayed out consistently, but the trainers cycled through their other Pokémon, always keeping a total of five or six of them out at a time. As they slowly made their way through the Lakefront, a couple of Snover and a Sneasel tried to make trouble for them, but these were easily taken care of.

The further away from civilization they got, the higher the snow got. After an hour of traveling – at which point they were at the northern end of Route 217 – the snow was nearly four feet high. And the blizzard, amazingly, was coming down even harder than before. It wasn't as if their movement hadn't been aggravatingly slow already… and clearly, it was only going to get slower.

"Man, this kind of makes me glad that we never got much snow back home," Peter lamented.

"Not me," said Tom. "I mean, sure, it's hard to walk through… but boy, is it pretty around here."

"You're right," said April, "it is. But we only think that because we're not used to stuff like this. Can you imagine this kind of thing happening on a regular basis? Ick, no thank you."

They hiked onwards through the snow that their fire-types continued to soften for them.

* * *

After a few more hours of hiking, they encountered a rest stop. Admittedly, it wasn't much – the wooden cabin had a café, restrooms, and a fireplace, and that was pretty much it. But all three trainers needed to use the restroom, and all three of them decided they could benefit from some hot cocoa after spending hours in the snow.

Human females tend to spend a longer amount of time in the restroom than the males, so Tom and Peter soon found themselves sitting at a café table, waiting for April.

"You did something weird during your battle today," Tom said in a hushed voice. "You left Jeffrey out when he had to face Weavile. You know how weak he is against ice-types; why didn't you withdraw him to save for later?"

"I dunno... maybe I was just too excited about Jeffrey evolving to think straight? Everyone slips up sometimes."

"That doesn't explain why you also didn't withdraw Golem when she had to face Milotic. That's two big beginner mistakes in one battle… you're usually better than that, Peter."

"So… what's your point?"

Tom leaned in over the table and spoke even more softly: "You were going easy on her, weren't you?"

Peter was silent for a couple seconds before responding in a hushed voice. "I mean… it's not like we know for sure she only won because of a couple little mistakes, right? For all we know, she might have won anyways, right?"

"Maybe. But probably not. It was an extremely close battle."

Peter leaned over the table as well and spoke in a whisper. "Tom, you have to promise not to tell April. You remember what happened last time she lost… she wouldn't take it well."

"Don't worry. I promise."

Suddenly, April was standing above them. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked.

"How hot we want our hot cocoas," Peter lied. "I want mine so hot, it'll melt my tongue off and drain it into my stomach, then melt my stomach too."

"…Peter, that's disgusting."

Soon they were back at the table, sipping their drinks. Their coats hanging on their chairs, the kids talked about how odd it was to go from the ever-warm Hoenn to the ever-cold Sinnoh as they drank. Outside the cabin, powdery white snowflakes continued falling from the white sky onto the white ground.

* * *

More coldness. More whiteness. More powdery snow that was now almost up to their shoulders, and getting higher all the time. More encounters with hostile wild Pokémon. More slow, slow hiking. Tom was holding me in a thick glove, but even through that, I could feel his pain and exhaustion. Manny was right: the meatbags known as _homo sapiens_ are pathetically weak against the elements. Or against anything, really.

The southern end of Route 217 connects to the western end of Route 216. From there, the huge, icy peak of Mt. Coronet was visible – even the thick snowstorm could not completely obscure that view. But we still had a ways to go.

It had been many hours since we departed Snowpoint City, and it was getting dark. Meanwhile, Mt. Coronet was getting closer. Snow-covered rocks were appearing on the path forward with greater and greater frequency – a sure sign that we were approaching mountainous territory. But again, it was also getting darker, and it soon became clear that they wouldn't make it to the mountain before nightfall, to say nothing of getting through its caves. But I'm not sure the kids really wanted to anymore. They were tired, and it wasn't getting any easier to walk. They practically fell to their knees with happiness when they got to a rest stop near the foot of Mt. Coronet. Like the last rest stop, this was a wooden cabin; but unlike the last one, it was a full bed & breakfast. They'd found a place to stay the night.

All three trainers gave a loud sigh of relief when they entered the warm cabin (Manny rolled his eyes, a gesture I would have mimicked if I actually had eyes). They hung their coats up on the coat rack and then spoke to the host. The homely little place had only four rooms, two of which were taken; rather than split up between the small and the large remaining rooms, the three teenagers decided it would be much more cost-efficient if they all shared the large room for the night.

Their room was pretty barren; there wasn't much there besides two beds and a couch (which Peter agreed to sleep on). Still, they seemed happy – after a long day, they were finally getting a chance to relax. Sitting on the floor, they took out the food they'd packed and began eating. They also took out their Pokémon, one by one (the room was far too small for all of them at once), and fed them as well. As she ate, April looked at her Pokédex screen. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed at one point. "Have you guys heard the news?"

Apparently they hadn't. April continued: "The Space Pirates have taken over that really big abandoned building in Veilstone City – the one that used to be the headquarters for Team Galactic. I was so busy thinking about getting through the snow that I didn't even think to check the news until now… but apparently it happened earlier today. I guess they're using it as some kind of base now."

"So Samus was right," said Tom. "They _are_ up to something in Sinnoh."

"Jeez, will these jerks ever go away?" said Manny. "I tell ya, fighting against them was actually kind of a thrill at first, but now they're just plain annoying."

"I hear that," said Peter. "I can't wait until we finally wipe that scum off of our planet."

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "So many have died already… I don't want to let anyone I know be added to that list."

"So wait, Tom, you're saying you _didn't_ hear about the new Space Pirate base?" April inquired. "What have you spent all this time doing on your Ultradex, then?"

"I have a name, you know," I told her. "An admittedly stupid one, but it exists."

"Hey, that's right," said Peter (ignoring me), "Manny said that you'd stopped researching stuff for training. But you've been typing away on that thing for days. What gives?"

"'That thing'? I resent that!"

As usual, I was ignored. "Um, it's really nothing…." Tom said. But his blood-red face was a giveaway.

"Know what I think?" Manny said with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. "I think he's been communicatin' with someone. So tell us, Tom… who's the lady?"

Just like that, Space Pirates ceased to be an issue. "Tom has a _girlfriend?_" Peter said excitedly.

"Tom has a girlfriend?" April said curiously. "Hmm…."

"I don't have a girlfriend!" Tom snapped. "And this conversation is over!"

"No it ain't," said Manny, looking as pleased with himself as ever. "Because that little device in your hand would go to any length to embarrass you. So tell us, Dexter… who's the lady?"

"I honestly don't know," I answered. "Tom blocked off that part of me from my central memory unit." I was actually really impressed he'd figured out how to do that. He must have _really_ wanted some privacy.

Tom sighed in relief. Little did he know that this was my cue to continue. "However, I can make a highly informed guess. You see, back in Fortree City, Opal Embs met with Tom in private to give him her number. She drew little hearts on the paper and everything – it made me want to puke battery acid."

"I _knew_ it!" April said excitedly.

"You _knew_ it?" Peter said in shock.

"For goodness sake, Peter, are you really that oblivious?"

"I neither know nor care what 'oblivious' means right now. Tom, what have you been doing with my sister?"

"I haven't done anything with her!" snapped Tom. If his face was any redder it might have burst. "We just talked!"

"Tom has a girlfriend! Tom has a girlfriend!" Manny chanted.

"Manny, do you even know what that means?" Tom asked.

"Sort of. We Pokémon just meet, mate, and leave, but I hear things are different with humans. I'm not exactly sure how it works, though. How long do you have to be with someone before you can mate?"

"A _really damn long time_, that's how long!" Peter growled, fists clenched. Everyone laughed, but I'm not sure to what extent he was joking.

The four of them (with my occasional, yet consistently wise, input) talked, joked, gossiped, and laughed for another hour or so. But they were all very tired from that day's traveling. Before long, they gave in to exhaustion and got in bed; sleep was immediate for all of them.

* * *

April woke up earlier than anyone else. She'd set her alarm forty-five minutes earlier than their usual, agreed time. She'd also set it to be quiet enough to awaken only her. But April wasn't the only one awake for long: her first action upon getting out of bed was to shake Tom awake. "Wha…?" Tom mumbled.

"Sorry for waking you up a little early. Do you mind joining me downstairs for some hot cocoa? You can go back to sleep if you want… I just kind of want to talk to you alone."

"Sure, that'd be fine," said Tom, sitting up in his bed.

"Great. I just need to get changed and stuff in the bathroom… try not to wake up Peter."

* * *

The kitchen was crowded with the other residents, so after getting their hot cocoa, Tom and April instead went to the unoccupied living room. There, it was just the two of them sitting on a couch; above them, a small window displayed the calm, dying-down snowstorm outside.

"Sorry again for waking you up early," said April.

"Don't worry about it," said Tom. "We don't get many chances to talk alone anymore." (I opted to not point out my presence. Tom had an unfortunate habit of forgetting I was always right there in his pocket.)

They both sipped their cocoa. "Actually, there's kind of something I wanted to talk to you about," said April. "It's just… well… during my battle with Peter, did you notice anything… weird?"

Tom nervously sipped his drink again. "…Go on."

"Don't you think it's odd how he kept Golem out when it would have been smarter to save her for later? And that he did the same thing again with Jeffrey?"

"Um… I guess so…."

"It just isn't like him to make those kinds of mistakes. Do you think he was going easy on me?"

Tom suddenly got very cold in spite of the fireplace right in front of them. "I mean… what makes you think he did that intentionally? He might've just slipped up a couple times."

"He might have," agreed April. "But I think not, for a couple reasons. One of them is the one I already mentioned – he just doesn't usually make mistakes like that. And the other one is that, well, he had a motive to go easy on me. I didn't exactly take it well the last time I lost against him. I think he wanted to avoid another situation like that. What do you think?"

Tom looked down into his mug for three seconds before he replied. "There's no guarantee that those mistakes were the only reason you won though, right? For all we know, you could have won anyway."

April snickered. "You didn't say 'no', so it sounds like you agree with me, even if you don't really want to admit it. And anyways, it was such an incredibly close battle, I doubt that I would have won if he hadn't gone easy on me. But I guess we'll never really know for sure. And to be honest, I'm glad about that."

"You are?"

"Yeah, totally. It's not like I regret challenging him, but… well, let me start way back at the beginning. I mean _way_ back, back to when I was just a kid, and so was Peter, and I would've given up an arm to make him just leave me alone. I don't need to go over all the stuff he did to me – I think I've already told you some of it anyways – but he was really, really good at making me miserable. And who was the only one there to defend me against him? Why, who else but my genius little brother June. I had to rely on a kid three years younger than me to defend myself. I felt helpless against Peter, and I felt embarrassed that I couldn't do what my little brother could. It's not like I didn't constantly feel like I was in June's shadow to begin with – the guy graduated from v-school at the age of _nine_. Then he got into the Elite Four at the age of _ten_. Between that and being unable to stop Peter from tormenting me… I just felt hopeless all the time.

"That's why, when I became a Pokémon trainer, I set one ultimate goal for myself: to become a better trainer than Peter. I felt like that was the only way to feel in control of my life again, and not in anyone's shadow or at anyone's mercy. But… I just never got there. First there were the Space Pirates. I was just so scared of them… every time I got near them, I just froze up and didn't know what to do. But you and Peter both, you had no trouble fighting against them when you needed to. I hated that I couldn't do something that Peter could. Then Peter defeated me in battle, after I'd trained so hard… well, you remember. I lost it. It didn't look like I'd ever live up to Peter, even after trying so hard to. I felt like I couldn't do anything right.

"Then… something happened. I don't know exactly why, or when. But I think it was back on Route 119, when I saw Kraid and the other Space Pirates somewhere upriver and realized you guys would probably be there. I'd just caught a Feebas after like a day of fishing for it. Then I saw the Space Pirates, and for some reason, I think that's when I realized something important: if I wanted to really have full control over my own life, I had to stop comparing myself to Peter. I'd thought that I needed to be better than him to be independent, but it's the other way around – what I actually needed was to stop thinking I had to be better than him. That's when I realized that, even if I couldn't beat you or Peter, I was still actually a pretty good trainer with some really strong Pokémon. And that with a new Milotic, my team would be even stronger, and I actually had nothing to fear from the Space Pirates. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I get it," said Tom. He wiped some cocoa off of his mouth. "I think I get _exactly_ what you're saying."

"I'm glad… but then, you would, wouldn't you? You kind of have the same thing going with Jude." Tom stopped moving his mug towards his mouth, but didn't respond. "Anyways, sorry again for waking up early just so I could rant at you!"

"You really don't need to apologize for that," said Tom. "I'm glad I could talk to you. I'm actually just glad someone wanted to talk to me… used to be that nobody would ever really want to. That wasn't very long ago, really."

"Yeah, things are changing fast," said April. She sipped her mug of cocoa. "So tell me… what've you really been up to with Opal?"

Predictably, Tom's face reddened. "I was being honest when I said we've just been talking. That's all." Then, quieter: "…For now."

April nodded. Then, smiling, she asked, "But do you want to keep it that way?"

Tom couldn't help but smile back. "Right now, I just want to focus on training my Pokémon. But later… who knows, right?"

"Yeah," said April. She looked at the staircase the two of them had come down from. "Who knows."

* * *

Later, Peter joined them to partake in the latter part of "Bed and Breakfast". Then it was back to the long, hard road. The snow had continued accumulating overnight and was now more than five feet high (obviously, that wasn't just the result of that one snowstorm – once snow falls in that part of the region, it sticks for quite a long time). They went through their usual routine: Charlie and Flareon melted the way forward for them, and whatever other Pokémon happened to be out fought off the wild Pokémon whenever necessary.

The snow was much lighter now; it seemed to be gently falling rather than viciously attacking. As a result, visibility had greatly improved. The kids could clearly see the high, high peak of the mountain in front of them. And that mountain got closer and closer with each step. Also, their hike was becoming more of an uphill one.

After a hard, tiring uphill climb, the entrance to the caves of Mt. Coronet was finally in sight. But something else was in sight, too – or rather, someone. And when they were mere paces away from the cave entrance, the kids suddenly realized who that someone was.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," said Jude. "The whole place is infested with Metroids."


	25. The Pirate Base

At almost the very moment the Space Pirates took over the former Galactic Headquarters building in Veilstone City, the government began making plans to infiltrate it. There was no hope of taking it back as long as Mewtwo was there, but gathering the secret Pirate intelligence hidden within would potentially be of great use to them in the ongoing struggle. The Governor requested Samus's help in the mission. Samus was going to volunteer even if she hadn't been asked.

The tricky part was the timing. If they waited too long, the Pirates would have more time to build up their security. On the other hand, they couldn't rush into this – they had to gather all the intelligence on this building they could get, and then analyze said intelligence to be fully prepared for this task. In the end, late on the very night after the takeover, they decided that they were as prepared as they were going to be, and that the optimal time had come. It was time to break into the Pirate base.

The former Galactic Headquarters – the new Space Pirate base – was enormous, and by far bigger than all the other buildings in Veilstone. The roof of the building was a huge white dome surrounded by several tall, bluish towers, which were lined with windows like an office building. Each of these towers were now equipped with searchlights; bright beams pierced the otherwise dark night, slowly moving and surveying the surrounding area. Streetlights lit up the streets of Veilstone; this light revealed the Space Pirates who were patrolling the streets, making sure nobody in the city could pose a threat to their base.

Samus watched all of this from atop a hill just outside of the city. It was very, very late; the descending crescent moon was already touching the horizon, although it took up so much of the sky that there would be another couple of hours before it fully set. But Samus wasn't looking at the moon. She had her eyes set on the large building in the distance, the one surrounded by bright lights – the one that she was about to break into. However, her attention shifted once her expected visitors arrived.

One by one, nine tiny, round, brown little creatures popped out of the ground in front of Samus. These were actually three Pokémon – a trio of Dugtrio, each of which consists of three Diglet. Samus kneeled down, although this did not put her at anything close to eye-level with the tiny critters. "You're done with your role in this?" she asked them. The Dugtrio bobbed up and down in apparent agreement. Then they moved to each side, allowing Samus to access the tunnel they had just finished digging. "Thanks, guys," said Samus. She entered morph ball mode, rolled over to the hole in the ground, and dropped down into it.

Samus had a long way to roll – she basically rolled under the entire length of Veilstone City. The lengthy tunnel was just barely wide enough for her morph ball to fit through. That changed, however, once she reached her destination. Just beneath the Pirate base, the Dugtrio had dug out a large hole, around which Samus could roll freely. When Samus got to this hole at the end of the long dirt tunnel, she knew that only a thin layer of dirt and tile separated her from the base. This was the trickiest part of the entire operation – getting into the building itself while remaining unnoticed. It was important that Samus remain unnoticed throughout the whole mission, or else she would once again find herself face-to-face with Mewtwo. Even with her new Phazon powers, and her new upgrades, there was no guarantee that she could survive a fight against him, and it was best not to find out unless it was absolutely necessary.

Thanks to the Governor's science team, Samus had several items at her disposal to help her out. One of these was a full map of the building above her; the map also showed her where she was relative to the building. Using this map as her guide, Samus rolled over to the planned spot. There, she laid a bomb. The small blast cleared out the dirt around her; as a result, there was no dirt above her now, only concrete. To enter the building, Samus would have to blast through that concrete. But not yet – the Pirates would notice. It was time to create a distraction.

Samus rolled over to a spot on the opposite side of the building, near the edge. Above her, the Dugtrio had pushed a dead Electrode aboveground. It was still halfway buried, and positioned just out of reach of the spotlights, but if the Pirates searched the grounds around the building, they would easily find it. It would therefore be blamed for the following explosion. Specifically, the explosion resulting from the Power Bomb that Samus then used. It was very noisy, and would shake the ground above her and possibly crack the floor of the base. All Space Pirates on the first level would go rushing to that spot to investigate the commotion. In theory.

Samus quickly rolled back to the spot she had bombed earlier and planted another bomb. This one crumbled the concrete above. Samus now assumed her normal form. She reached through the concrete debris to find the bottom of the tile floor. Swiftly yet cautiously, she lifted up one of the tiles and peaked into the building.

The distraction had worked – there were no Space Pirates in sight. They were all behind several layers of walls, at the spot where Samus had created a scene by laying a Power Bomb. The specific tile she was under had not been chosen at random – this was one of the only spots on this floor that was not monitored by a camera. A camera on the wall above Samus monitored everything else in the room. Samus shot a Wave Beam at the camera to short-circuit it. With any luck, this would be the only time she'd have to do that; if she short-circuited too many cameras, it wouldn't be long before the Pirates noticed.

Samus put the tile aside and lifted herself onto the floor. Then she put the tile back in place, making sure to leave no hint that anyone had done anything to it. On a nearby wall was an air vent. Samus now made all of her armor disappear, leaving only her skin-tight Zero Suit on. Samus carefully removed the cover to the air vent and crawled inside. She got in feet-first so that she could put the cover back on behind her.

Samus crawled backwards through the ventilation duct, trying to make as little noise as possible. She had to lie on her belly the whole time in order to fit; the ducts were not very wide. Finally, she got to a corner where the duct went upward. Here, she curled up, putting her chin between her knees, and then activated her armor. It was not easy to go from being armorless to a morph ball in one step, but it could be done. In this case, it was necessary – there was not enough room for her fully-armored figure to fit. There was, however, plenty of room for her morph ball form.

Samus had yet to find her Spider Ball upgrade on this planet, assuming that it existed. In its place, the Governor's science team had fitted a series of electromagnets onto her armor. It wasn't as smooth as her normal Spider Ball, and it was an entirely temporary solution – the tiniest damage would eliminate these things. Still, as a makeshift replacement, it worked like a charm. Samus magnetically attached herself to the metallic duct and rolled upwards. Not only did this "Spider Ball" allow Samus to scale the vertical ducts, it allowed her to do so almost noiselessly. And, of course, it was much faster than crawling no matter which direction she rolled.

Up she rolled, until, finally, she got to a fork. Above her was a fan; she could either go along the wall of the building or roll inside of the second floor ceiling. Samus chose the latter. Onwards through the duct she rolled. Occasionally, she passed by a vent through which she could see the ground beneath her. For a while, she saw nothing but empty hallways through these vents. But eventually, she got to a dead end, and the vent beneath her revealed quite an interesting room.

Huge monitors lined the walls. These were displaying diagrams for some sort of machine, as well as the innards of… something biological. Samus couldn't quite tell what. Nonetheless, she scanned these monitors and transmitted the data to the Capitol. The room was filled with computers, although at the moment, only one Space Pirate was sitting at one of them. Presumably, the rest were off sleeping somewhere. Samus scanned the computers and hacked through the coded information. Most of it was maintenance data – information about the two Pirate bases (this one and Mt. Chimney) and the upkeep at each one. Samus only skimmed most of this data as she transmitted it. Eventually, she found an interesting gem of information within one of the computers. Samus read the piece of Space Pirate data:

MT. CORONET

The machine codenamed "Doomsday Device" is complete and fully operational. As planned, the machine is integrated with Mt. Coronet. At this stage in the plan, no location is more vital to our success than this mountain. Our Metroids, having completed most of their duties, are now safely stored within the mountain. Atop the mountain, at the location known as "Spear Pillar", rests Mother Brain. Her reconstruction is complete; however, this Mother Brain is not the super-intelligent being who led us on Zebes. She is little more than a dumb machine, or a biological computer. Nor does she have her body, which we did not have time to rebuild. She serves as the head of the machine integrated with the mountain; she also maintains control of the Metroids. Her survival is our number one priority. Spear Pillar must be guarded at all costs.

Each new fact in this piece of data shocked Samus more than the last. Doomsday Device? Metroids in Mt. Coronet? But worst of all… Mother Brain was back. Samus couldn't be more filled with dread. She had desperately hoped that she'd seen the last of her old nemesis. Apparently not. And from the looks of things, it seemed that defeating this new Mother Brain was crucial to stopping the Space Pirates. That was the spark of light within the dread: they now had a lead. Thanks to this piece of data, they now knew what to do to stop the Pirates as well as where. The only questions remaining were _how _and _why_.

Samus was finished scanning the computers in this room. Being at a dead end, she turned back and backtracked through the duct. When she got back to the fork, she turned left to move parallel to the building's outer wall. She kept rolling until she got to a point at which the duct turned upward. Once again, she ascended the duct, passing by a couple more forks as she rose. This ventilation system was like a maze, Samus marveled. Soon she found the fork at which she could roll through the ducts above the third story ceiling. She made a turn in order to do so.

In the third floor, Samus discovered that her speculation that many of the Pirates were now sleeping had been correct. She passed by a couple of rooms where several unarmored Space Pirates slept. When she found herself above another computer lab, she was disappointed to find that most of the computers were off, and as such she couldn't hack into them. But one of them was still on. And this one held what might be a highly valuable piece of data:

OPERATION GIGADRAIN

The project codenamed "Operation Gigadrain" has been mostly successful. As planned, our Metroids drained the Life Energy of the three legendary beasts of Johto, Kyogre, the Regi trio, Regigigas, and the three lake guardians of Sinnoh. They acted under the control of our leader, but the addition of Mother Brain strengthened this control. Under this stronger control, the Metroids were made to transfer this Life Energy into the nodes within Mt. Coronet, giving it to the machine codenamed "Doomsday Device". Life Energy from the meteorites we harvested has been transferred to the machine as well. Unfortunately, a setback may have put the plan on hold. Because of our defeat at the Weather Institute, we were not able to find Groudon or Rayquaza. Without their Life Energy, it is unlikely that the final step in our plan can be executed properly. It is not clear how we will compensate for this loss, but surely it can be done.

Well, that explained why the Pirates were after Life Energy. Except not really. They wanted it for their machine, but what did this machine _do?_ Questions were still plentiful. Unsatisfied, Samus continued rolling forwards.

The duct went all the way to the wall on the other side of the building. There, Samus turned upwards to ascend the building further. But now the path became less straightforward. Samus, wanting to investigate the fourth floor, rolled down a path towards the building's interior. But there she found herself going through a maze-like labyrinth of twists and turns, all without any vents to see the main floor through. Finally, she made it to a vent on the wall; she peered through the vent to see that it was in the middle of a wide hallway. What she saw in the hallway made her roll backwards a little to make sure she remained unseen.

"…Just an Electrode," a large Space Pirate was saying to its leader, Mewtwo. "We do not know how it got there, but Electrode are not native to this area."

"Possibly it was a test by our enemies," said Mewtwo. "Perhaps they wanted to see exactly what they could get away with under our noses. The fact that the Electrode got so close to the building without detection is troubling. Have you checked the security cameras yet?"

Even in her morph ball form, Samus could feel herself tense up. "Yes," answered the Pirate. "No suspicious activity was recorded. But…."

"But?"

"But… for an unknown reason, one of the cameras on the first floor went black. But it is not close to any possible entry points, and since it was the only camera to do so, it was probably just a flaw in the design."

"Faulty cameras are the last thing I want to deal with right now." Mewtwo looked at the Pirate with disgust, as if this were its fault. "Security in this place needs to be tightened as soon as possible. For one thing, I want motion sensors installed in the air ducts." Mewtwo may have been a monster, but Samus had to admit that he was a clever one. No wonder the Governor considered himself to be in a proxy battle of wits with him.

"But sir… there's no way to access the air ducts from the outside," said the Pirate. It spoke with a tremble in its voice, probably knowing that it would be scolded for speaking up.

"Don't tell me what I already know, idiot," said Mewtwo. "Yes, it is impossible to sneak in using the air ducts, but that is not the issue. Should someone manage to break into the building, they could use the ducts to sneak around without getting caught. The Hunter in particular could easily do this using her morph ball ability. We must not underestimate our enemies. They are more cunning than they may at first seem. But then, I wouldn't have it any other way." Mewtwo turned away from the Pirate and started walking down the hall. The Pirate followed. "As I said, I want sensors in the air ducts, and I want it done soon. I'm entrusting you with this information, for in a moment I will be gone. I know that it will be done by the time I get back. Or else."

"Get back from what, sir?"

"From the Leviathan Seed." Samus knew what this was – Leviathan Seeds were the huge meteors that corrupted planets with Phazon. They would launch from their home world of Phaaze and then generate wormholes to travel through space and find a planet to spread Phazon to. But Samus had destroyed the planet Phaaze and, supposedly, eliminated all Phazon and Leviathan Seeds as well. Supposedly. If one Leviathan had somehow survived, Samus neither knew how nor where it was.

Mewtwo stopped walking when he reached a large metallic door. "The blunder at the Weather Institute has cost us dearly," he continued. "Even with everything in place, we cannot begin the final phase with the inadequate amount of Life Energy in our possession. At the Leviathan, I will have to replenish my bodily supply of Phazon to make up the difference. Thus, I, personally, will wield enough power to see the machine function successfully. Tell your comrades this: while I am gone, you are not – I repeat, NOT – to make any unplanned moves. Until I return, the rest of you are to sit still and not draw attention to yourselves. If there's one thing the massive failure at Goldenrod City taught me, it's that I can't trust you idiots to do anything on your own. In fact, because of that failure, you never obtained the TurboTransceiver from the Radio Tower and will thus be unable to communicate with me when I'm gone."

Next to the door was an electronic panel with numbered buttons. Mewtwo entered an eight-digit code in this panel which Samus made sure to memorize. The door opened. The room behind it was mostly empty. Two Space Pirates stood as if in guard of something. A pedestal stood between them, and on top of this pedestal was a Pokéball.

"Here are your instructions," Mewtwo said to the large Pirate. "I am to be released from my Pokéball tomorrow at sundown. Release me earlier if and ONLY if it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you are to do what is necessary to keep our bases of operation safe and _nothing more_. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" said the Pirate.

Mewtwo walked past the threshold of the open door, but then stopped. "You do know who the previous owner of this building was, don't you?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Y…Yes, Master," said the Pirate in the hall. "I believe it was a group known as Team Galactic, led by a man named Cyrus."

"That is correct," said Mewtwo. "It is because of this man's effort that we were able to duplicate the Red Chain using the technology we found in this very building. And it is in part because of this that we were able to detain Dialga, Palkia, and Girantina, and to integrate them with the Doomsday machine. Now, tell me: do you know what this man Cyrus attempted to do?"

"I've… heard a little. Did he not try to recreate the universe using the power of Dialga and Palkia?"

"That is correct. But he failed, and miserably at that. Do you know why?"

"No, sir… why?"

Mewtwo sighed. "Of course you wouldn't know. Very well, I will explain. Cyrus failed because he did not grasp the bigger picture. He saw two godlike Pokémon and wanted their powers to himself, not realizing that these Pokémon are little more than the limbs of a larger cosmic body. If you grab a man's right arm, he will punch you with his left arm. If you grab both arms, he will kick you instead. This is how Cyrus failed – he tried to control one limb, and the others revolted. We will not make the same mistake. Our aim is nothing less than control of the head. We will take control of Oscelon, and the universe shall become our playground. Soon, all that is will be like an eternal fight, or like a game that never ends. Because we see the bigger picture. That is why we will win." And then the metal door slid shut behind him.

The large Pirate in the hall quickly walked out of sight. Then, from behind the metal door, Samus faintly heard what sounded to her like a Pokéball opening.

Samus now faced a dilemma. Mewtwo had strongly implied that he was entering his Pokéball. Now she heard what she could swear was a Pokéball opening in the room he just entered. Was Mewtwo really inside his Pokéball right now? If so, this was the most perfect opportunity Samus was ever going to get. But if she was wrong… Mewtwo could be standing right behind that door, waiting for her. Was this a trap? Had Mewtwo known that she was listening in on him, and was trying to lure her out? But if so, why hadn't he attacked her already? Samus knew she couldn't use the ducts to inspect this room –she'd seen no vents when she looked inside. There was only one way in and out, and that was the door unlocked by the eight-digit code. In the end, Samus decided that this was an opportunity she could not afford to pass up. It was a risk she had to take.

She waited a minute to make sure that the coast was clear. Then she bombed open the cover to the vent in front of her. She rolled out of the vent and transformed from a morph ball into her normal figure. Cautiously, she walked over to the room Mewtwo had gone into. On the panel next to it, she inputted the numerical code she had memorized. The door slid open to reveal what awaited her.

What awaited her was two Space Pirates, a pedestal between them, and a Pokéball on top of that pedestal. That was it. No Mewtwo. Samus was relieved, but not so relieved as to forget to take care of the two Pirate guards. She barraged them with missiles right away; after a delayed response, they fired back at her, but Samus dodged their fire. Soon, they were both dead on the floor. Samus walked over to the pedestal. She placed her hand over the Pokéball. Then all of the lights turned red and an extremely loud alarm sounded.

Ignoring the commotion, Samus converted the Pokéball into energy and absorbed it into her suit's storage system. Once that was done, she could no longer ignore the commotion. First of all, she opened a flap on her Arm Cannon to press a series of buttons that would call her ship over. Over the loud alarm, she could hear what sounded like a stampede of Space Pirates rushing down the hall in her direction. Samus ran out of the room to find that this was exactly what it sounded like. The group of Pirates began shooting at her; Samus ran towards them and shot back. Then she surprised them by jumping into the air and using her Screw Attack. She sliced through the group of Pirates like a knife through butter, emerging behind them. The Pirates turned around and chased Samus in the other direction, but she was much faster than they were. She quickly turned a corner and then, barely two seconds later, turned another corner, putting her out of their view. But unless she kept running, they were bound to catch up with her eventually.

Samus suddenly found her path blocked by two very large, Phazon-enhanced Space Pirates. It was time to enter Hyper Mode. In Hyper Mode, Samus sacrificed a little of her own energy to temporarily induce a state in which she could use Phazon as a weapon. Samus and the two Pirates fought briefly, but the group behind them was catching up. Samus became a morph ball, rolled forward, and planted a Power Bomb. The forceful explosion that followed knocked both Pirates onto the ground. Samus exited her morph ball form and kept running; she did not need to defeat these Space Pirates now, only to escape.

She turned another corner; there, she found a lone Pirate Trooper awaiting her. She slammed into it with her Screw Attack, then shot it with her Ice Beam repeatedly while it was down. It became totally immobilized, and Samus kept running. One hallway later, she found what she was looking for: the windows. The huge glass windows covered the entire wall; through it, she could see the lights of Veilstone City. Behind her, the sound of approaching Space Pirates could just barely be heard over the alarm. Samus jumped, used Screw Attack, and crashed through the window.

Samus's timing was perfect: she fell about two stories down until her gunship caught her. She quickly entered the gunship via the emergency hatch at its top. Space Pirates fired at the ship both from the roof and through the shattered window, but the ship dodged all oncoming attacks.

Before leaving, Samus decided to give the Pirates one last bit of trouble. She steered the gunship away from the Pirate base, making it seem as though she were leaving. Then the ship turned around and sped towards the base again. Space Pirates continued to fire at it, and continued to miss. When the gunship was right above the base, Samus dropped a ship missile. It hit the Pirate base and blew its roof to smithereens. Satisfied, Samus flew her ship away.

The operation was more successful than Samus could ever have hoped. She had the information she had sought. She'd greatly damaged the top of the Pirate base. And, most importantly, she was now in possession of Mewtwo's Pokéball… with Mewtwo inside it.

* * *

As planned, Samus met back with the Governor at Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town. There, Samus told her tale of triumph to Rowan and the Governor. The three of them then had to decide what to do with Mewtwo's Pokéball. They could keep it safe, but the Space Pirates would almost certainly try to get it back, and even a small chance of them succeeding was too much to risk. They also discussed the possibility of creating an unfavorable environment to release Mewtwo into in order to trap him and/or defeat him. But this was the riskiest option of all; a long list of things could go wrong, and then they'd find themselves in a worse position than ever. In the end, it was decided that the Pokéball had to be destroyed. Perhaps this would eliminate any usefulness it might have served them, but it was the best option available to them.

Early the next morning, Samus got a distress signal from Jude Tutino. He told her what she already knew: that Mt. Coronet was infested with Metroids.

"Stay where you are for now," Samus told him. "I'll contact you again soon. We're coming up with a plan."


	26. The Foot of Mt Coronet

An awkward silence filled the cabin's living room. Tom, Peter, and April occupied a couch while Jude sat in a chair nearby. They were all waiting for Samus and the Governor, who would be arriving at the cabin soon, although it was not exactly clear why. In the meantime, putting Tom and Jude in a room together without anything obvious to talk about became an understandable source of awkwardness.

"So, Jude…" Tom said, staring at the fireplace in the brick wall in front of him, "…um, have you gotten eight badges yet?"

"I have," said Jude. "I got my last one in Hoenn just before coming to Sinnoh. It wasn't that hard." Ten seconds of silence ensued. "What about you?" Jude finally asked.

"Seven down, just one to go," said Tom.

Yet another awkward silence ensued. Peter and April kept looking back and forth from Tom to Jude, as if one of them was going to explode at any moment. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "This is boring," I said. "Let's talk about how Tom makes out with his own hand at night as if I can't detect it."

"No, better idea!" said my brother, Jude's Ultradex. "Let's talk about the disgusting crap Jude jacks off to without bothering to turn me off."

"Oh, I have an even better idea!" I said excitedly. "Let's talk about…."

"Dexter," Tom loudly cut me off, "if you say even one more word, I will mute you _permanently_ and make sure you never talk again."

Talk about a killjoy. "Banana," I said mockingly. "There, that's one more word. Now are you going to mute the only voice of reason in your miserable life?"

Jude rolled his eyes. "I see your little electric friend has been as much of a problem as mine has."

"Tell me about it," said Tom. "Even with all of his useful functions, it's barely worth putting up with."

"I know what you mean," said Jude, and then they finally looked each other in the eye. It was the first time since I'd been with Tom that he both made eye contact with Jude and, simultaneously, smiled.

Finally, the cabin's front door opened. The old lady who owned the place greeted the three visitors who entered, although she did not sound happy to do so. The arrangements had already been made in advance, so Professor Rowan, Samus, and the Governor soon found themselves standing in front of the four teenagers.

"Greetings, young trainers," said the Governor. "I see that you have decided to keep all of your Pokémon within their Pokéballs for the occasion. Please, I suggest you release all of them. I believe it is important that they are aware, to whatever extent they can be, of what we are about to discuss as well."

Beams of white light flashed all around the room as twenty-four Pokémon all exited their Pokéballs in the span of about fifteen seconds. The living room was big, but not that big; the room was very cramped afterward, and several Pokémon had to look inward from the hallways. Some of the smaller ones went under the couch and chairs to make room for the larger ones. As the Pokémon all shuffled around to make as much room as possible, the innkeeper watched from the hallway with disgust. "Damn Governor…" the old woman muttered. "Thinks he can come in and just own the place… don't regret voting against him one bit…."

Once the Pokémon were all settled, the Governor spoke again. "At this point," he said, "you are likely wondering why I wanted to meet with you four here." (April grabbed Peter's head, which was facing Samus, and rotated it to face the Governor.) "The short answer is that we need your help. We will likely need all of the help we can get. We are on the verge of eliminating the Space Pirates from Pocket once and for all, and you four may end up being a vital part of the operation. But first, you ought to be fully informed of our current circumstances."

And so the Governor explained the "current circumstances". Mostly, he told them about Samus's mission inside the Pirate base, its aftermath, and the information gleaned from it. He told them how Mewtwo's Pokéball was stolen, and then destroyed, with Mewtwo still inside it (or rather, still stranded at wherever it sent him). He mentioned the Metroids in Mt. Coronet; as Rowan remarked, "It only makes too much sense! Metroids are weak to cold, so of course they would be kept within caves that are surrounded on most sides by cold weather. It keeps them contained, but also keeps them nearby the machine that feeds off their power – a plan dastardly in its brilliance!" Mentioning this "machine" raised a few eyebrows, so the Governor explained even more to them. He explained that the Space Pirates' ultimate plan, although it was not completely clear what this plan was, hinged on a machine integrated with Mt. Coronet. He explained that the Metroids on Pocket had been sucking Life Energy from Pokémon to transfer it to this mysterious machine. He explained that these Metroids were being controlled by a recreated Mother Brain, who also served as the head of the machine. And he made it clear that the key to defeating the Space Pirates, therefore, was to destroy Mother Brain, who rested at the top of Mt. Coronet. "And with Mewtwo out of the equation," he concluded, "we now have a better opportunity than ever to do so."

"Um, Mr. Governor?" said Peter. "Sorry if I'm interrupting, but… are you saying that _we_ are going to the top of Mt. Coronet to deal with this?"

"Obviously, I cannot force the decision on any of you," said the Governor. "But yes, should you accept, any plan we come up with would involve you four trainers scaling Mt. Coronet and fighting Mother Brain as well as anything guarding her. With help, of course." As these words came, I felt a strange new emotion within Tom that would be hard to accurately describe.

"For the record, this was not something I supported," said Samus. "You're all very young, and this will be tougher than anything you've been through so far. But you also are among the best trainers in the province, have prior experience fighting Pirates, and happen to be right beneath our destination as we speak. I hate to admit it, but using you in our confrontation might be the most strategic option." There was another factor that Samus did not dare mention: the fact that the two likeliest prophesized saviors – Tom and Jude – were now given a chance to truly be put to the test. What Samus had actually objected to was dragging Peter and April along with them. But she realized it was a moot point; those two wouldn't let Tom leave them behind if they could go into battle with him.

"You said 'with help'," Jude pointed out. "How much help are we talking about, here?"

"Ah," said the Governor, "but that is the question. Professor, may I have the holoscope?"

"Certainly," said Rowan. The Professor took a small metal cube out of his pocket and handed it to the Governor. The Governor pressed something on the cube, and it transformed into a wide, flat surface. When he pressed another button, a holographic display of Japano appeared over the Governor's head. When the Governor tinkered with the device, the projection zoomed in on three locations: Mt. Chimney, Mt. Coronet, and the Pirate base in Veilstone City.

"These are the three current Space Pirate strongholds," said the Governor. "To eliminate the Pirate menace, we will have to launch attacks on all three of them, preferably at the same time. And this…" He zoomed in on Mt. Coronet even further; "…is where you'll be heading."

At the peak of Mt. Coronet is a place called Spear Pillar, a flat, artificial surface that tops the otherwise rugged mountain. This is what the holoscope displayed, as well as Spear Pillar's current inhabitants. Mother Brain was one of them. The huge, glass-encased brain was surrounded by what Samus recognized to be the Zebetite barriers that had also protected her on Zebes, or at least, something bearing a strong resemblance to them. But that was not Mother Brain's only defense. Two creatures stood out more than anything else on Spear Pillar. "Ridley," Samus muttered; "Kraid!" Tom and Peter both gasped. Indeed, Ridley was perched atop one of the many stone columns that littered the area; Kraid was actually standing on part of the mountain below – from where he stood, Spear Pillar was on level with his middle belly button. There was more to be seen on Spear Pillar, too, although much of it was hard to make out. There were several Space Pirates there, and they seemed to be manning cannons of some kind. There also seemed to be something sticking out of the cave in Mt. Coronet nearby, although it was hard to tell exactly what. On top of that, there were three large, white blotches surrounding Mother Brain – from the holographic image, it was hard to tell what they were. Furthermore, the place was full of clutter, from the many stone columns that held nothing up to the rubble leftover from columns that had fallen over long ago.

"As you can see," said the Governor, "the Pirates have taken precautions to defend the location. Due to their anti-air weaponry, we cannot send forces there from above; whoever is sent to fight at Spear Pillar will have to work their way up from the bottom of Mt. Coronet to get there. More importantly, the guards there are powerful and will be a force to reckon with. Additionally, there is a very high chance that, should a fight break out there, they would send even more guards to the location; after all, it is the most important location to defend according to their plan. It is not unthinkable that every single Pirate on the planet would join a battle to defend Mother Brain, if necessary. And so we return to the question: how much help would you get? How large a force do we send?"

The holographic display zoomed out to show the three Pirate strongholds equally again. "To repeat myself," said the Governor, "it is not unthinkable that every Space Pirate on the planet would go to Spear Pillar if it seemed to be in danger. This gives us two options to consider. One, we send a force to Spear Pillar that is so large and powerful, it could potentially defeat an army of what may be hundreds of Space Pirates. Or, two, we attack all three Pirate strongholds simultaneously, weakening their ability to defend only a single location at once. I have decided on the second option. It gives us a far greater chance of eliminating every single Space Pirate on the planet; if we do not simultaneously attack every location containing Space Pirates, many Pirates will inevitably live on, and that is not a risk I am willing to take. For all we know, the Pirates may have a backup plan; either way, I want all Space Pirates off of Pocket for good.

"The main question in our strategy, therefore, is how large a force to send to each location. At Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City, we want enough fighters to both do significant damage to the Pirate forces and to force the Pirates to choose between defending their current base and defending Spear Pillar. Although I believe they will ultimately choose the latter, they will only leave their post as a last resort – and by then, we will have put a significant dent in their forces. The more fighters we send there to overwhelm them, the larger the dent. But the more fighters we send to Spear Pillar, the smaller we will need the dent to be.

"Our biggest problem is the fact that our resources are limited. Certainly, we will have no trouble recruiting Pokémon trainers to join the fight – past events have proven that the training community, as a whole, would be more than willing to do so, given the opportunity. This is especially true in Veilstone, where local trainers will be readily available, in contrast to Mt. Chimney and Mt. Coronet. However, I am under no illusions as to who will shoulder most of the burden. Amateur trainers will fold relatively easily, and even with my policing forces to back them up, only the most elite trainers – the gym leaders and the Elite Four – will end up doing the majority of the battling. It is them, therefore, whom we must focus on, however small they are in number.

"We cannot afford to lose any of the three battles we are about to wage. However, one additional gym leader in one location means one less in either of the others. And both Mt. Chimney and the Veilstone base are well-defended enough, with enough Space Pirate forces, that we must send a sizeable number of elite trainers and police forces to each. Thus, the question remains: should you accept to scale Mt. Coronet, how much help do we send?"

"I'd be going with you, just so you know," said Samus. "I'm going whether any of you four are or not. So you won't be alone, no matter what."

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot to mention that," said the Governor. "I apologize. Now I ask again: with Samus's assistance being a given, how much help do you believe you would need to conquer the Pirates atop Mt. Coronet?"

Eight seconds of silence ensued. Jude then spoke up: "Excuse me, Mr. Governor, but… are you asking _us_ to decide that? With all due respect, how the heck do you expect us to have the kind of knowledge and experience to make that judgment?"

"Might I remind you, Mr. Tutino, that this is the Governor you are talking down to?" Rowan said harshly.

"No need to be indignant, Professor," said the Governor; "it was a valid question. Let me make something clear: I am not, as you might say, making this up as I go. I do have a clear picture of every possible option, and have already weighted them all by every standard there is. However, I do like to hear input from as many sources as possible; to me, all data points are valuable, even if they end up being irrelevant in the final analysis. And would not the opinions of those who are about to embark on this mission be more important data points than most?"

"Um, Mr. Governor… I think Jude is right," said Tom. "Even after all those times I've fought the Space Pirates, I really don't know what to expect up there, and I don't know what I should expect from any help we get."

"Very well," said the Governor. "Such is hardly surprising. Samus, do you have any input to contribute?"

Samus sighed. She knew, logically, what needed to be said, but she dreaded having to say it. She had a faint idea of what the ideal strategy might be, and she had a bad feeling that she was right. "Assuming that those images you showed us are to be believed, it looks like Mother Brain's guards consist of Ridley, Kraid, and a small group of Pirate Troopers. Well, that's not counting Mother Brain, who would probably do some fighting herself. But even so, that force could _probably_ be defeated by me and the twenty-four strong Pokémon around us. The biggest problem would come if more Pirates came to join the fight; we'll need some backup to be more prepared for that. But in my opinion, our greatest chance to wipe out the Space Pirates would be to have only a small number of strong trainers join us on our trip up Mt. Coronet, and keep the rest in the battlefields of Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City. If we're going to attack all three locations, it's important to keep as many Pirates away from Spear Pillar as possible, which means deploying most forces to the other two locations." There was something that Samus intentionally neglected to mention, though: although this plan might bear the highest chance of success for the operation as a whole, it without a doubt provided the greatest risk to each individual human and Pokémon who went to Spear Pillar. By bringing up a valid strategic detail, Samus knew, she was quite possibly dooming one or more of these kids – or their Pokémon – to die in battle.

"Ah, yes, just as I suspected," said the Governor, and Samus got a chilly feeling like she had been used. "In that case, we will use the bulk of our force to completely crush the two Space Pirates bases right before ending the Space Pirates' time on Pocket altogether on Spear Pillar. However, to do this, as I said, might require all of the forces we can get to attend to Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City; each base is thought to have as many as one hundred Space Pirates ready for battle, and Mt. Chimney very likely has more than that. Under no condition will I send the five of you to Mt. Coronet alone… however, I do not know how many forces we can afford to give up…."

Rowan groaned. "If only we had some more assistance," he lamented. "We're in dire need of it right now."

"Dire need," Tom repeated contemplatively. Everyone looked at him, but he only repeated, "Dire need, dire need… assistance…."

Nobody seemed sure what to make of this incoherent stuttering; Manny, however, had caught on. From where he stood right next to Tom's end of the couch, he excitedly clapped his lower two hands and triumphantly held up his upper two fists. "The Kimono Girls!" he yelled.

Not everyone in the room had been aware that a talking Machamp was in their presence. Jude could not possibly have looked more shocked; "_Holy shit!_" he whispered. Rowan wore more or less the same expression as Jude, and muttered, "Heavens!" The Governor looked on with a mix of mild curiosity and mild amusement. Samus was so used to even weirder crap happening that this didn't even show up on her radar.

Manny and Tom completely ignored the commotion. "The Rainbow Pokémon…" Tom started.

"…Will come to the assistance…" Manny continued.

"…Of a worthy trainer in dire need…"

"…Should that trainer hold…"

"…Its Rainbow Wing…"

"…In the sunlight."

Tom suddenly stood up, prompting a few Pokémon near him to scurry away. Even more Pokémon had to make room for him when he made his way over to the window behind the couch. "Is it sunny outside?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Sort of," I told him. (Whereas Manny's voice had generated shock, my concealed one merely generated confusion. I hated always being shown up by that Pokémon.) "It's been clearing up out there ever since the storm ended."

"Perfect!" said Tom. He immediately bolted out of the room, which was not easy – he had to step both over and around several Pokémon on his way. Tom had left his backpack leaning on the wall; he picked it back up. Then he jogged to the cabin's front door, opened it, and left.

The ground outside was still covered in snow, which Tom hastily marched through. It was mostly cloudy, but the clouds were parted in just the right place to allow the sun to shine through. Tom unzipped his backpack. From within it, he pulled out the golden feather he had found in Ecruteak City. He held the feather above his head, letting it bask in the sun, reflecting rainbows.

* * *

Ten minutes passed. Everyone else had joined Tom outside – Pokémon and all – and they were all quietly waiting for something to happen. Tom had been excited at first, but now that his arm was tired from holding the feather up for so long, I could feel a tinge of doubt within him. That doubt completely and totally disappeared when he saw what was flying towards him.

April and Jude both said something tantamount to "What the hell is _that?_" although neither of them formed a complete sentence.

"Ho-Oh," Rowan whispered in amazement. The Governor nodded.

The clouds Ho-Oh flew through seemed to part for the legendary Pokémon like dust from a fan. There was absolutely no doubt that this was the "Rainbow Pokémon"; every color of the rainbow reflected off its feathers, greatly contrasting it with the grey/white background of the clouds. Only when it got closer did Tom seem to realize just how huge this Pokémon was. Ho-Oh is 12.5 feet tall. Its wingspan is about 25 feet. While humans don't think in numerical terms, the ones standing in the snow became increasingly aware of just how enormous this legendary Pokémon was as it swooped down from the sky and positioned itself to land in front of them. They were all breathless with wonder and, perhaps, fright.

The moment Ho-Oh landed on the ground, every Pokémon in the vicinity – Manny included – bowed down to it. They did this even if it meant putting their heads in the snow. It was simply instinct. The fiery Pokémon's wings almost instantly melted all of the snow in the area. It then held up its beak and let out a tremendous "CAW!" sound.

Tom was white as paper and rigid as a stone. Still, he managed to gather up enough senses to talk to Manny, who was still kneeling right next to him. "Um, Manny," he whispered, "I don't think he… she… it speaks telepathically. Do you think you can, you know, talk to it for me?"

Manny looked horrified by the suggestion. "_Me?_ No… no, no, no… every instinct I have is telling me that that's not a good idea. You're the one who summoned Ho-Oh, and it willingly came to you. I think that _you_ should speak to it."

Tom gulped as he looked up at the golden bird towering over him. He made eye contact with Ho-Oh; if possible, he became even whiter. Nonetheless, he clenched his fists and spoke with a louder and stronger voice than I expected. "Ho-Oh… thank you so much for coming. We need your help right now. All of Pocket needs your help. We're launching our final assault against the Space Pirates, but we're afraid that we may not have enough people to beat them. If we fail, the Pirates could make a comeback… and that could be disastrous for all of us. Please, we need you to fight with us. We need the help of any legendary Pokémon that you can get to fight with you, too. Please… if you don't help us, our entire planet might be in danger."

When Tom finished his plea, he continued looking up at Ho-Oh, who stared down at him contemplatively. Then, with another "CAW!" the legendary Pokémon took to the air. It began flying away – but before it was out of sight, it turned its head back and screeched "CAW!" once more.

Everyone stood in place, watching the rainbow-like trail of light that Ho-Oh reflected grow more and more distant. Eventually, Tom said to Manny, "It said 'wait', right? For some reason, I got the feeling that it wanted us to wait."

"That's exactly what it said, actually," said Manny.

So they waited.

* * *

They waited for an hour.

Nobody dared go inside during that time, as Ho-Oh could come back at any moment. So they waited outside, in the freezing cold, for an hour. At first, there wasn't much talking, and when there was, it was only in hushed whispers. But eventually, people (and Pokémon) started to realize that they might be waiting for quite a while, and they got less tense.

As soon as it became clear that it was going to be a long wait, the Pokémon began playing around and intermingling. It began when Charlie, no longer able to sit still, got Flareon to play a game with him to see who could melt the most snow the fastest. Other Pokémon soon followed suit: Golem and Albert goofed around; Milotic and Vaporeon playfully "swam" through the surrounding snow; Kim cheered Charlie on; Pachirisu dragged Ralph into visiting each and every one of the other Pokémon. Jude's team, unlike the other three, mostly just interacted with each other; none of them showed much interest in anyone else's Pokémon.

The Pokémon weren't the only ones who loosened up in spite of the situation. First, April asked Tom how he got that feather. When he answered, Rowan asked him how he knew what to do with it. Upon answering that too, Jude asked Tom if Manny had been able to talk this entire time.

"Hey, I'm right here – why don't you ask me to my face?" Manny replied before Tom could. "Yeah, I'm that Machop you saw back in Cerulean City, and yeah, I've been talking this entire time. That means I heard and understood _everything_ you've said to Tom." He cracked his knuckles in a clear act of intimidation. Jude looked down at his feet in… shame? That's what it seemed like, but I had a hard time believing it.

The talking didn't end there. The kids then started asking Rowan, the Governor, and Samus about all of the details of everything that had happened up until then. The kids had plenty to share too, especially about what had happened in Snowpoint Temple. Eventually, the discussion turned into more general chit-chat. It was then that Rowan asked to talk to Manny alone.

Five minutes later, the professor and the Machamp walked back to the rest of the group. Tom had been immensely curious about what Rowan had needed Manny for. "It's no big deal," Manny told his trainer. "He just asked me why I can talk, and how, and all that other stuff everyone keeps asking me whenever they find out that I can talk."

"I couldn't help it," said Rowan. "This is absolutely unprecedented; there's no telling what implications it might have on Pokémon science. But don't worry – I don't intend to around blabbing about it. Your secret is safe with me. Now… Governor, can you please join us for a moment?"

The Governor had just finished sharing some amusing anecdote with the others. "Certainly," he said, walking closer to Rowan and Manny. "Can I somehow be of assistance?"

"Er… yeah, there's something I was wondering," said Manny. "Mr. Governor… do you think the Space Pirates could be after me? I mean, I'm like the first talking Pokémon ever, if you don't count telepathic psychic Pokémon. And then, five or six months after I was born, Space Pirates land on Pocket at Mt. Moon, where I lived. Is that really just a coincidence?"

The Governor's mental waves indicated that he was calm, which soothed Manny a bit. "Do not worry," the Governor said. "It is almost certainly just a coincidence. The Pirates did not choose where to land on Pocket; the meteor chose for them, and Mt. Moon is known for its frequent meteor collisions. More importantly, there is nothing within the Space Pirate data we have gathered to indicate that they even know of the existence of a talking Machamp, to say nothing of being after one. No, it simply does not fit; from what we know of the Pirates' plans, the addition of such a goal would not make any sense."

"Thank you," said Manny, who seemed greatly relieved. "Man, that's a load off _my_ shoulders."

After about fifty minutes of waiting, something disturbing happened.

I was the first one to know about it. "Tom, take me out," I said, loudly, so that the people around us could hear. "There's something that everyone needs to see."

Tom obliged, taking me out of his coat pocket and into his hand. To make sure that everyone saw my screen, I used my projection function to create a large holographic image of it above Tom's head. I then switched on the Channel 10 News. Ridley appeared on the screen, standing in front of a pile of wreckage.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt anyone… yet," said the Space Dragon. "I simply come to deliver a quick message to a certain someone, who knows who they are. You see, a petty thief has stolen something from us Space Pirates which is rightfully ours. I just want this thief to do the fair and just thing and give this valuable item back to its rightful owners. If we do not have it back by dawn tomorrow morning, we will attack a randomly selected city with brutal force. We will keep doing this every twenty-four hours, attacking a different city each time, until the thief finally gives back what they stole. If you do not give it back, the entire planet will know that you value your stolen possessions more than you value human lives. Is that what you want, thief? Because the choice is all yours. I'm done here – turn off the cameras!" And then the screen went blank.

"Ridley broke into a newsroom – literally," I explained. "He knocked down a wall, barged on in, and demanded cameras be put on him for an important message."

"I don't believe this," Samus said in disgust. "Mewtwo even told them to stay put, and now they go and do _this_."

"Actually, this was quite predictable," said the Governor. "They are desperate. They realize how vulnerable they are without Mewtwo. I do not doubt that they are aware that it is only a matter of time before we strike. Desperate, risky measures like this are all they have left."

"What does this mean?" asked Samus. "They clearly want Mewtwo's Pokéball… and we'd never give it to them, even if we hadn't destroyed it. But does this affect our plans any?"

"In a way, yes," said the Governor. "So desperate is the Space Pirates' situation that I do not judge Ridley's threat to be an empty one. In any case, as Governor of this region and of all the people in it, I do not want to wait long enough to find out. Any attack we carry out now must be carried out as quickly as possible. While Ridley's deadline gives us plenty of time to prepare, it also makes it less likely that we will have time to recruit many trainers from overseas. However, as I said, I expected something like this to occur, which is why I had already decided that we must attack the Pirates as soon as possible, without planning on significant overseas help."

Something was bugging me. "Hey, isn't _anyone_ surprised that I have AI?" I asked. "What about you, Rowan – you work with Oak, so you ought to know about the Ultradexes. Surely it caught _you_ off guard."

"Sorry?" Rowan said, looking at me in Tom's hand. "Oh… why, er, yes, what a shock! I'm stunned! Flabbergasted!" But I could tell it was lie. It was then that I became deeply suspicious of all of the Pokémon Professors. I had to put my suspicion on hold, though, because that's when our wait ended.

April was the first to notice. "Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to the sky. Concealed by the veil of the clouds, the outline of a large bird was approaching them. As it got closer, it became obvious that this was not Ho-Oh. When Ho-Oh flew through clouds, they parted in its presence; for this bird, the opposite seemed to be true. The clouds grew thicker wherever it flew, and instead of being trailed by rainbow-like reflective light, it seemed to leave a trail of mist behind it. The Pokémon flew closer still, and it became clear just how enormous it was. This one was even bigger than Ho-Oh. It was mostly silvery-white, but its belly was blue, as were the spikes on its back and surrounding its eyes. Its wings looked almost like giant hands.

Lugia slowed down before landing in front of the crowd. Once again, the Pokémon all bowed down in respect of the legendary Pokémon before them.

Lugia looked at Tom as it telepathically spoke. "Hello, everyone," it said. "And hello especially to you, young one. You are the one who called Ho-Oh, correct?"

Tom nodded nervously. "Yes," he said. "Um, where's Ho-Oh now?"

"Sadly, Ho-Oh could not be of assistance. I will explain all in a moment. First, I would like to know: are you not one of the two trainers the Eon Pokémon spoke of, who fought against the green giant and nearly won?"

"Y…yeah, that was me," Tom confirmed.

"I was the other one!" Peter added.

"Both of you fill me with hope," said Lugia. "If young fighters with such courage as that you displayed exist on this planet, then I do not see how we can lose against the evil which we must now face. And that brings me to the reason I have come to you: the Space Pirate threat must be addressed.

"It is unlike legendary Pokémon such as me to intervene in the affairs of this planet, but for the sinister set of circumstances we now face, an exception must be made. Sadly, however, Ho-Oh is in no condition to fight, thanks to the very monsters we are now preparing to eliminate. These monsters are responsible for the attack on the three legendary beasts of Johto, an attack which nearly killed all three of them. Ho-Oh put a stop to it before all of their energy could be drained by the Metroids, but the damage had been done, and the legendary beasts lay dying within the Burned Tower. Summoning all the energy he could muster, Ho-Oh revived the beasts. But this revival was not without its toll – it has left Ho-Oh weak, and it will be years before he has completely recovered from the ordeal.

"Ho-Oh realized that he could not provide the assistance you seek, and so he sent me to speak to you in his stead. And I do believe I can provide all of the help you need. Tell me, young one – what is your name?"

Lugia had been staring at Tom the whole time. "I'm Tom Tasby," said Tom, forcing himself to remain calm and confident.

"Then Tom," said Lugia, "I want you to have this." A single feather detached itself from Lugia's wing. At first, Tom didn't realize what he was supposed to be receiving, but then he saw the feather floating towards him despite the lack of wind. The silver feather slowly made its way towards Tom's hand, and after several seconds, landed in his open palm.

"Both Ho-Oh and I have a special connection to all of our feathers, even those which we discard," Lugia explained. "Ho-Oh can feel his lost feathers calling out to him if they are ever exposed to the sun. This connection is, in part, a psionic one, and hence Ho-Oh can sense when the holder of his feather is a trainer who is pure of heart and in dire need. However, because I possess such great psychic powers of my own, I do not need solar energy to activate this connection. Whenever you need my help, simply hold that feather in your hand and call out for me with your mind. I promise that I will find you. Furthermore, when the time comes, I will not be alone. All three legendary birds of Kanto answer to me. Whenever and wherever the final battle against the Space Pirates is fought, use my feather to call me, and I will come to help – as will Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. I assure you that all four of us are willing to join the fight."

"Thank you," Tom said, looking back and forth between Lugia and the feather in his hand. "I'll remember all of that. Thank you so much, Lugia."

"No, young Tom," said Lugia, "it is I who should be thanking you. I ought to be thanking all of the brave humans and Pokémon who stand before me, willing to put their lives at risk to fight for the survival of their planet. Without you, all hope for Pocket would have been lost long ago."

Lugia craned its head to face the Governor. "It has been a long time, Mariam," said the legendary bird. "Have the years treated you well?"

"Yes, quite well," the Governor replied. "Believe it or not, the people of this province have actually elected me to be their governor. I'm still not certain what gave them such a crazy idea!"

"Ah, I'm not the least bit surprised," said Lugia. "I've always had you pegged as a natural leader."

"You have still been slumbering in your cave, I assume?"

"Yes, same as always. Well, I can sense that no more words between us are necessary. Any further talking would only stall us. So I must bid you farewell. Tom, Mariam, and all others gathered here today: goodbye, for now. When the time comes, I will see many of you again very soon."

Without needing any time to build up its speed, the huge bird shot up to the sky, leaving a misty trail behind. Everyone watched in awe as it disappeared into the distance. When even its outline could no longer be seen, Peter asked the Governor in shock, "You _know_ Lugia?"

"Indeed," the Governor answered. "I am older than you might think; I have had plenty of time to become very connected on this planet. I must admit, however, that I wasn't nearly as well-connected as you are at your age. Who knows – perhaps you could become governor someday." The Governor winked. April began giggling uncontrollably. Peter looked at her with a face that looked both annoyed and mildly hurt.

Jude wasn't in the mood for casual banter. "Excuse me," he said, "but do we really have any reason to stay out here? It's just a little bit cold."

"I concur," said Rowan. "All of this will have been pointless if we all die of frostbite now."

"Do not worry," said the Governor, "our business outside is now over. Everyone, let us go back into the cabin. There, I will explain the plan I have formulated based on the various input I have received today."

People and Pokémon alike made their way through the snow back to the cabin door. Tom was the last one to leave. He was still staring at the sky where Lugia had flown away; this just happened to be in the direction of the nearby Mt. Coronet, whose peak was so high that the clouds obscured it. Manny put his hand on Tom's shoulder. "C'mon, Tom, everyone's going inside."

"Oh, um, right," said Tom, breaking out of his trance. He and Manny followed the rest of the group into the cabin.

* * *

Tom was still in a bit of a daze as he sat back down on the couch, but he wasn't alone. They had just directly talked to two legendary Pokémon within the past hour. Most people were still a little fuzzy-eyed from this surreal experience. The only exceptions were the Governor and Samus, both of whom had much stricter standards for what qualified as surreal.

Nonetheless, the Governor stood before them all in the crowded room and explained his plan. "The Pirates, it seems, don't want us to wait any longer than tomorrow morning," he said. "So we shan't. While it is certainly possible that Ridley's threat was a bluff, I see no reason to wait and find out. We can prepare to fight the Pirates tomorrow morning, so that is what we will do. At five o'clock in the morning, when the sun is just beginning to rise, the Space Pirates at both Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City will find themselves in for a fight. Overnight, I will transport all of the elite trainers of Japano, as well as my entire police force, to those two locations. When the time for battle comes, the elite trainers will take the front lines, with my police force backing them up. We will try to recruit ordinary local trainers as well, but as I said before, their help will ultimately be minimal.

"However, the battle strategies at Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City are not the primary concern of anyone here. While the Space Pirates might notice the massive airlift of Pokémon trainers to locations near their bases tonight, there is something they are less likely to notice: the five people entering Mt. Coronet's caves a mere hour before the great battle begins. I refer, of course, to Mr. Tasby, Mr. Tutino, Mr. Embs, Miss Maywood, and Miss Aran. It will take many hours for you five to completely ascend Mt. Coronet, but then, that is the point. During that time, the other two battles will be raging on; by the time you all reach Spear Pillar, the Pirates will be weakened, distracted, and not prepared for your assault. Once you get to Spear Pillar, you will summon Lugia and then immediately begin the assault. Before Lugia and the other legendary birds arrive, it is essential that you destroy Spear Pillar's anti-air defenses, or at least kill the Pirates who are operating it. Focus on that first to allow the legendary birds to fly to your assistance as soon as they can. With a force consisting of twenty-four trained Pokémon, four legendary Pokémon, and one legendary bounty hunter, Mother Brain and her henchmen do not stand a chance."

Tom raised his hand. "Do you have a question, Mr. Tasby?" the Governor asked.

"Yeah," said Tom. "Is it really necessary for _us_ to be the ones who go up to Spear Pillar? I mean, I understand that we're already so close to it and all, but still… wouldn't we have a better chance of winning if you brought over some stronger, more experience Pokémon trainers to do it instead?"

"Ah, Mr. Tasby, you underestimate your own abilities. Believe it or not, young though you may be, the four Pokémon trainers in this room right now have killed more Space Pirates than anyone else on the planet – Ms. Aran exempted, of course." Tom was a bit taken aback. I suppose he hadn't really thought about it before, but it should have been obvious. "Do not worry – if I did not think that you were more than capable of what I am asking you, I would not be asking it of you. And the decision to ask this was not something I took lightly. I would not have done it if I did not feel absolutely certain that you four, as opposed to any four other trainers, provide the greatest chance at accomplishing this task. You have the most experience with battling Space Pirates, have reasonably strong Pokémon, and, coincidentally, are well-positioned to sneak into Mt. Coronet on a moment's notice. Should I need to airlift other trainers to this location, there is a chance that the Pirates might notice and thus be more prepared to deal with it.

"However, the choice is ultimately yours. I would never dream of forcing you into this mission. But the time to choose has now come. You may take your time, if the decision is difficult, but remember that our time is not infinite. Are you willing to go to Spear Pillar and execute the most important step in our campaign against the Pirates? You do not have to; I could find other trainers to do so in your stead. You could then join the battles at Mt. Chimney or Veilstone City, or, if you prefer, sit out of the fight altogether. There would be no shame in doing so, I promise you."

"Can I elaborate on that, Governor?" asked Samus.

"Certainly."

Samus looked all four teenagers in the eye, one by one. She thought about how young they all were. When she was their age, she was just starting her time in the Galactic Federation Police Force. But that was different. After the destruction of her homeworld, Samus had spent her entire childhood training under the Chozo on the planet Zebes to be a fighter. These kids had cozy, sheltered childhoods living in their homes with their parents. And now, the moment they stepped into the adult world, they were being thrust full-speed into the very harshest sector of it. Samus couldn't imagine the abrupt transition they must have been going through, and she doubted that they were even fully aware of it.

"Listen, everyone," she began. "After all you've been through – all of the trainer battles you've won, all of the Space Pirates you've killed – I understand how confident you must feel about using your Pokémon in battle. And to an extent, that confidence is warranted. But you need to understand that there is just no way to know how prepared you are for what's ahead. This is much bigger than anything you've been through. And now, more than ever, you need to be fully aware of the fact that this isn't a game anymore. When you lose a Pokémon battle, you just give up some money and go to the nearest Pokémon Center. There are no Pokémon Centers waiting for you on Spear Pillar, only death – and your Pokémon are the only things standing between death and you. You're at war now, and your enemies don't just want your Pokémon to faint; they want to kill you and your Pokémon, and will do everything they can to do it unless you kill them first. If you do follow me to Spear Pillar, it would be almost miraculous if everyone in this room – human and Pokémon – survived. Now it's time to choose: do you follow me, and put yourself through experiences that'll haunt your nightmares for the rest of your life, assuming you're lucky enough to live at all? Or do you stay behind, and fall asleep tonight without wondering whether it'll be your last night alive? As the Governor said, there is no shame in the second option. In fact, I'm tempted to recommend it."

When Samus finished talking, each trainer immediately turned to look at their Pokémon. Tom gave Manny a serious look, and Manny returned it. They both turned around to look at the rest of the team: Ralph had settled on Tom's lap; Umanda was at his feet; Charlie was peering in from the hallway; Kim and Albert were in a corner near that hallway. Then Manny turned back to Tom and, without changing his expression, made a single gesture: a thumbs-up. A split-second afterwards, Kim screeched. This screech seemed to act as a catalyst for the other Pokémon, because just then a chorus of Pokémon noises filled the room. Charlie gave out a tremendous roar; Ralph charged up his cheeks and said "Raaaaii!"; even Umanda meowed. But it wasn't just Tom's Pokémon – the Pokémon of all four trainers were suddenly in a pumped-up frenzy. They may not have understood Samus's exact words, but they had picked up on her basic message. And now they were sending a message of their own: they were ready to do whatever their masters wanted of them. Should the trainers accept this mission, their Pokémon would gladly be there for them.

The noise took about a minute to die down. As soon as it did, Jude spoke. "I've made up my mind," he said. "I'm definitely going."

"Okay," said Samus. "And you three?"

Tom, Peter, and April all looked at each other. I may just be a cold, inhuman machine, but I think I have a fairly decent grasp on subtle human non-verbal communicative signals. And to me, it looked as though they were all saying "yes" to each other with their eyes.

April was the first one to say it out loud. "I'm going," she said.

"Me too," Tom and Peter both said simultaneously.

The Governor telepathically smiled. "I had a feeling that might be the case. Very well. I sincerely believe that I can put the fate of our planet in your capable hands."

"Not to pressure you or anything," muttered Samus. Rowan snickered, but tried to cover it up by clearing his throat.

The Governor only continued telepathically smiling. "Trust me, Miss Aran: nothing I say can possibly make them feel more pressured than they already do. Now, trainers, can you please withdraw your Pokémon? I will need to leave soon, but I do not believe I could navigate my way out of here through this crowd."

The room seemed to turn white as twenty-three Pokémon were quickly beamed back into their Pokéballs. Only Manny remained in the room afterwards. "Thank you," said the Governor. "Now the time has come for us to part. I wish I had more words for you, but I have spoken so much today that I am afraid I may have used them all up. All I can say is: do not worry too much about the possibilities. Think only of one possibility: victory. Believe in yourself, but more importantly, believe in your Pokémon. I am sure that we can win this. I hope that you feel the same way. Now, I must make preparations for tomorrow morning. Remember: you will be entering Mt. Coronet at four o'clock in the morning. I suggest that you go to bed early; you will want get a good night's rest." He began walking out of the room. Just before he got to the hallway, he stopped. "Goodbye, everyone. I am certain that we will meet again, and I suspect that it won't be long from now. Until then, farewell." He finally left to go down the hallway leading to the reception area.

"Er, I better be off as well," said Rowan. "My business here is all finished. Good luck, all!" Rowan followed the Governor out of the building.

Samus left the room without saying a word.

Tom, Peter, April, Jude, and Manny were left sitting in yet another awkward silence. "So… now what?" Peter eventually asked.

"I'm going out to train," said Jude. With those words, he got up and left. The kids could hear the creaky cabin door shut behind him.

"Should we be doing that too?" asked Peter, still looking toward the cabin door beyond the hallway.

Tom thought for a second. "I guess so," he said. "I mean, we're going to need our Pokémon to be at their best tomorrow, more than ever. The least we can do is prepare them a little today."

"And being outside will get us used to the cold," added April. "We'll probably have to go through a lot of cold weather tomorrow."

"Sounds like we've reached a decision," said Manny, standing up. "C'mon, then – let's go at it!"

* * *

Tom, Peter, and April trained their Pokémon in the snow for several hours. Jude could be seen doing the same in the distance, at a spot closer to Mt. Coronet, uphill from the other three. It wasn't very intensive training, and the three teenagers seemed to only have half of their minds on the task. As the day wore on, the clouds got thinner and thinner until they were gone entirely. When they were, it became apparent just how much of Mt. Coronet's peak they had been concealing. The mountain was gigantic. And thanks to the improved visibility, they could now see how it stretched on and on, covering almost the length of the whole island. Every few minutes, Tom would take a moment to stare wistfully at the peak before bringing his focus back to his Pokémon.

"Can you believe this whole ordeal is about to end?" April asked at one point. "Everything's just happened so fast."

"I know what you mean," said Tom. "It feels like these last three weeks have been some weird dream. I'm almost afraid I could wake up at any moment."

They all stared at Mt. Coronet in silence for several seconds. "…This could be our last day alive," said April, so softly it was almost a whisper.

"Not mine," said Tom.

Peter and April looked at him. "What do you mean?" asked April.

"I can't die," said Tom. "I promised my mom I wouldn't."

"Good attitude!" said Peter. "Well, if Tom's not dying, I'm not dying!"

April half-smiled, but still seemed a bit downcast. Manny must have noticed. "None of you are dying, April," he said. "Y'know why?"

"Why?" she asked.

"Because your Pokémon will be there to protect you. I know I'd give my life to keep my master safe, and I'm ninety-nine percent sure that the same is true of every Pokémon here. And if you're afraid of it coming to that, don't worry – that's why the legendary birds and Samus will be there to back us up. We're gonna go up there, take names, kick ass, and be back in time for dinner!"

"I hope you're right," said April.

"He's a freaking talking Machamp, of _course_ he's right!" said Peter.

Ten seconds of silence followed. Then, out of nowhere, April turned to Peter and asked, "Hey, Peter… remember Emily?"

"Oh, hell yes! That girl was such a snobby bitch. Every time I'd try to talk to her she'd just turn around and pretend I didn't exist."

"Um, maybe that's because you were kind of a jerk, Peter."

"Well, okay, that might have been _part_ of it. But still."

"Oh, and remember Ophelia?"

"How could I forget? She was my first kiss, you know."

"Wait, _really?_ No way! Holy… you and _Ophelia?_"

"You didn't know? She didn't exactly stick around, though. I think she sort of figured out that I was a jerk."

"Sheesh, you and Ophelia… I still can't believe it."

"Hey, remember that time when she…."

No more training was done that day – Peter and April were too busy reminiscing about a time before Space Pirates or Pokémon training. It was an odd coping mechanism, but it seemed to work. It worked well enough, in fact, that they never really stopped. The two of them kept talking through dinner and into the night until bedtime. As the Governor suggested, they all went to bed very early, since they'd have to wake up very early too.

Nobody slept particularly well that night.

* * *

"Wake up," said Samus. "It's time."

Peter groaned. He picked up his Pokédex and looked at the clock on it. "S'only three," he slurred. "We don gots ta leave till four, 'ight?"

"No," said Samus, "we have to be inside Mt. Coronet at four, _at latest_. And first we have to walk there. And before that, you have to get dressed and get ready. So get moving. We don't have much time to spare." She closed the door and left the three teenagers and their Pokémon to their privacy.

"Ugh, I'm too tired to save the world," Tom complained. But they all forced themselves out of bed nonetheless.

Fifteen minutes later, the kids had gotten dressed, gotten ready, and were eating breakfast in the kitchen downstairs. Despite how early it was, and how little sleep he'd gotten, Tom wasn't the least bit tired. He seemed rather tense. It was only mildly cold in the cabin, yet he was shivering something fierce. Was he shivering because of the cold, or out of anxiety? Or, perhaps, was it… anticipation? I honestly couldn't tell.

Samus was eating at the same table as the four teenagers. When they were all finished, they took turns going to the bathroom – it could be a long time before they got another chance to do so. Finally, they gathered in the reception area. Each trainer had one Pokémon with them: Tom had Manny; Peter had Vaporeon; April had Flareon; Jude had Arcanine. "Ready?" asked Samus, who was now wearing her armor. The four kids said they were. "Then let's go." She opened the door and led them all out onto the snowy ground, into the freezing cold night.

Samus had told them not to let their Pokémon use any fire-type moves, since it would immediately draw attention to them in the darkness. So the trainers had to struggle uphill through several feet of snow, much of which had frozen over. It was a very slow process. Despite the darkness, the moon made their destination perfectly visible. The fat crescent moon was now just touching the horizon in the west, where Mt. Coronet was located. This created a rather spectacular sight, as the dark outline of Mt. Coronet blocked much of the moon's light. Pocket's moon always appeared very big, since it was so close, but Mt. Coronet was so tall that its tip was just above the top of the moon, and its base was just below its bottom. "Now there's something you don't see every day," Tom marveled, taking the sight in.

"No kidding," April agreed.

As they walked uphill, the mountain seemed to cover up more and more of the moon until they could barely see the crescent of light at all. They were completely within the mountain's shadow, casting them in near-total darkness. Only starlight lit their way forward now. Thanks to the lack of city lights, the sky was completely filled with stars. Tom would frequently look up and gaze wondrously at them.

Because of the difficulty of walking through so much snow, it took them slightly longer than expected to get to Mt. Coronet. Nonetheless, there they were, standing right in front of a mammoth wall of rock. Samus didn't say any words of encouragement or advice before entering the cave. She simply walked in and waited for the others to follow.


	27. Mt Coronet

The caves of Mt. Coronet are almost completely man-made. There were, at first, a number of narrow natural caverns, but the finished product bears little resemblance to this starting point. These large tunnels, carved out many years ago, mostly exist to ease travel between the two halves of the region. Later on, more tunnels were added that went all the way up to Spear Pillar, where Samus and the four trainers were now headed.

Lights lined the rock walls, but they were dim, and nobody could see very far in front of them (except Samus, whose visor allowed her to). The caves, as is the case with most caves, remained at a constant temperature unaffected by however warm or cold it was outside. The kids realized this upon entering, and once they felt safe enough to stop for a moment, they all took off their heavy coats. They then reached into their backpacks and pulled out a compression capsule – a must-have item for any traveler. The capsules sucked up the coats to compress them into a much denser, more mobile form. The capsule was then put back in the backpack. The kids all kept on most of their layers of warm clothing, though – it wasn't freezing in the cave, but it was still pretty cool.

Meanwhile, Samus was on the lookout. At first, it looked like there were no other creatures of any kind nearby. Then… _Skree!_

Already? Samus wondered. Not half a second later, her suspicious was confirmed: a Metroid was charging at her, fangs-first. As the kids and Pokémon watched, Samus froze the Metroid mid-flight with a single shot of her ice beam. Freakishly, it was still floating in the air even after being frozen solid. Samus shot it with a missile, then another missile, then another, until finally, the frozen Metroid shattered into a thousand little gooey pieces.

"That's not a good sign," said Samus. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to run into these guys until later. If they're this far down from Spear Pillar… we might be fighting them the whole way up." She turned around to face the others. "I would advise each of you to have one or two Pokémon out at all times. Do you remember what I said about Metroids' weaknesses?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "You said they were weak to ice-type moves, and probably dark-type moves too."

"Actually, I was wondering about that," said April. "I get that Metroids are really weak to coldness, but… why dark-type moves?"

"I was basing that on my experience on Aether," said Samus. "They seemed to be weaker to the Dark Beam I found there than most other weapons. I'm not sure that dark-type Pokémon moves would have the same effect, but I think there's a very good chance that they would."

"I have a Pokémon that's both dark-type _and_ ice-type," said April. "Sounds like I should bring her out."

"That's perfect," said Samus. "Everyone else – try to have at least one Pokémon out with either ice-type or dark-type moves – preferably ice-type. But we don't want too many Pokémon out, or it'll be hard to stick together."

April sent out Weavile, then replaced Flareon with Gardevoir. Peter kept out Vaporeon and also sent out Jeffrey. Tom kept Manny out and released Kim as well. Jude withdrew Arcanine, then sent out Swampert and Gengar. With four humans and eight Pokémon, Samus was at first afraid that their group had become too large. Soon, however, an arrangement was made. Weavile and Kim were put in front of the pack; they were given the duty to help find and kill any Metroids who attacked them head-on. Samus was right behind them; Tom and Manny were to her left, and April and Gardevoir were to her right. Peter and Jude were to make sure nothing attacked them from behind. Jude and his Pokémon marched behind April; Peter and his Pokémon remained directly behind Tom.

Samus gave Jeffrey a curious look. "A Zeta Metroid? I see you've been training him well," she said to Peter.

"Yeah," said Peter. "He's really not much different than any other Pokémon. I train him like I'd train anyone on my team, and so far it's been working."

Now that they were all organized, it was time to move. Both my brother and I had maps of these caves readily available, and thanks to this information, a path had already been decided on. Though it was too dark to see the end of this first room from the entrance, it was actually a relatively small room. It would only take a couple minutes of walking before they reached the entrance to the next cave.

They had only begun walking when Peter spoke again. "Um… Samus… there's something I want to ask you."

"Yes?"

"Well… do we really have to _kill_ the Metroids in here?"

He paused for a moment, either awaiting Samus's response or else gathering his thoughts. "…What do you mean?" asked Samus.

"I mean, us trainers all have plenty of Pokéballs, right? Can't we just capture them? I… don't really want to kill any Metroids if I don't have to…." He looked worriedly at Jeffrey.

Samus stopped walking. Everyone else stopped with her. Samus seriously considered Peter's idea. She, too, knew from experience that Metroids weren't inherently evil. However, in the end, logic won out over feelings. "I'm sorry, Peter," she said, "but we just don't have the luxury of playing nice right now. For one thing, carefully weakening and then capturing every Metroid we come across would just take too much time. But more importantly, our safety is the top priority here. If we went easy on the Metroids in an effort to capture them, our safety would be compromised, because they sure as hell won't go easy on us. To top it all off… Peter, you got your Metroid before Mother Brain came into the picture. These Metroids all answer to Mother Brain. Even if you were to capture them, they would probably still act under Mother Brain's orders. I don't know what would come of that – who knows where Pokémon go when they're in a Pokéball. But it's a risk we're not going to take.

"Listen, though. We're not going to kill every Metroid in the mountain. In fact, I was already going to make it a priority to avoid confrontation as much as we can. These Metroids aren't what we're here for, and I want to avoid fighting any unless we absolutely have to. These Metroids aren't going anywhere – all entrances to Mt. Coronet have been blocked off except the ones in the coldest areas. Once we've killed Mother Brain, the government will undoubtedly set out to clear the mountain of all of them. I'll try to get the Governor to have them all captured rather than killed. Got it?"

"I guess," mumbled a downcast Peter.

The journey resumed. Before long, they were at the end of the first cave. A round hole in the big rock wall facing them served as an entrance to the next cave. Before they could go through it, however, Samus told them all to put their backs to the walls beside them. Everyone complied. Samus peaked through the hole leading to the next cave. Carefully, she took aim. Then she fired a couple of shots from her Ice Beam, followed by a rapid succession of missiles.

"We're good to go," she told them. "There were a couple of Metroids hovering over our path. If I didn't get rid of them now, we would've had to fight them later."

Samus then led them into the next cave; they walked through the hole one at a time. "Sorry, Jeffrey," Peter said to his Zeta Metroid, who had just followed his master through the hole. "It'll be okay. We'll save the other Metroids when we're done with this." He pet Jeffrey, who made an indecipherable _skree_ sound in response.

Soon, they were back in their formation. This cave was much, much longer than the first one. They walked atop a straight, plateau-like bridge of rock elevated above the rest of the ground, dividing the room neatly in half. The dim, artificial lights lined each side of the bridge, but nothing else; in the darkness, the four kids had no way of seeing any of the cave's walls. To them, they were walking on a bridge through sheer nothingness.

A group of Golbat flew above them, but did not notice them. Many wild Pokémon inhabited these caves; they had moved in long ago, when the caves had just been dug. For another minute or so, the group walked on in silence. Then: _skree!_

The fight had begun before anyone had even turned their heads to look. Jeffrey had grasped a Metroid with his claws, mid-flight. From the trajectory, it was clear who the enemy Metroid's target had been: Peter. Everyone else backed off as Jeffrey tore into the creature with his sharp fangs and spit acid on it from within his leech-like mouth. It was a very one-sided fight, to the point where it could hardly be called a "fight" at all. Within moments, the smaller Metroid was nothing more than an oozing blob – half of it on the ground, the other half still in Jeffrey's grasp. But Jeffrey did not stop there. He kept shredding the dead Metroid until it was little more than a smear of pulp on the ground. Even then, Jeffrey continued attacking; he stomped and stomped on the smear as if it could get back up at any moment.

"Jeffrey, stop!" Peter pleaded. Jeffrey stopped. "It's okay, Jeffrey – it's dead now," Peter said. "Come on, let's keep going." Jeffrey hopped back into position. Everyone continued walking without saying a word about what had just happened.

But while nobody else had any desire to say anything, Jeffrey apparently felt differently. As soon as the traveling continued, he made the typical Metroid high-pitch screeching sound. Then he did it again. And again. Eventually, Peter had to intervene. "Jeffrey, please be quiet!" he said. "We don't want to attract any attention to ourselves." And from then on, Jeffrey was quiet.

They walked noiselessly for another minute. In that time, they had to walk over the corpses of a Graveler and a Clefairy, both of whom had obviously become snacks for this cave's newest inhabitants. Speaking of whom: far to the group's left, another Metroid bobbed in and out of visibility. It was too far away to notice them, but just close enough that the bridge's lights revealed its presence to Tom and Peter (who were in charge of looking out for trouble from the left). Tom and Peter – and the Pokémon nearest to the left side of the bridge – watched the Metroid with careful eyes. It didn't look like it would attack them, so they continued walking in spite of it. Then Jeffrey leaped off the bridge and into the pit below.

"Jeffrey!" Peter yelled, but it was too late. Jeffrey hopped toward the Metroid with astonishing speed. With his last leap, he jumped all the way up to the other Metroid, grasped it in his jaw, and landed in the darkness, too far away from the lights to be seen. So the kids did not see him rip the Metroid apart – they only heard it.

"Jeffrey, that's enough!" Peter called out. "Get back here!"

Jeffrey stopped. In small, slow steps, he hopped back over to the bridge. Metroid juice was dripping down his mouth like drool. "Oh God," April whispered as she forced herself not to look away. She had been more than a little disgusted the _first_ time Jeffrey devoured one of his own. Even Tom's stomach did not feel entirely settled.

With a great leap, Jeffrey made it back up to the rock bridge. "Jeffrey, don't do that!" Peter scolded him. "We aren't supposed to be starting fights. Only attack something if it attacks us first, got it?" Jeffrey screeched, but it was a slightly lower-pitched screech than usual.

Peter sighed as he withdrew his Zeta Metroid. To replace him, he sent out Magneton. "Let's go," Peter said. They went.

"I don't know what got into him," Peter said as they walked.

"What, it isn't obvious?" said Manny.

Everyone looked (or else quickly glanced) at Manny. "Um… what do you mean, Manny?" asked Tom.

"Well, think about it! He's the only trained Metroid he knows, and he's never met another Metroid on our side – which is his side, too. Now he finds out that all the others like him are enemies who want to kill us, and who we need to kill. Don't you think that'd make him worry about how we think of him? And can you imagine how _isolated_ it makes him feel?"

"…Huh. That's a good point," said Peter. "You're probably right." I wondered if anyone else had caught on to the fact that it was the talking Machamp who had thought of this before anyone else – even Jeffrey's trainer.

On and on they marched. Darkness now surrounded them on all sides; without a visor like Samus's, they could see nothing but the bridge stretching on endlessly before them and behind them. Although they were not yet ascending the mountain to any significant degree, they were walking south; Spear Pillar was a long way south from their starting point. And they still had a long way to go. Every once in a while, they could hear a distant _skree_ from within the darkness. The noise immediately put everyone on their toes, but rarely did it produce a confrontation. Twice, a Metroid tried to attack the group head-on; Weavile, Kim, and Samus made quick work of these foes.

By the time they reached the other end of the rock bridge, nearly an hour had passed since their arrival. "It's now 5 o'clock in the morning," I informed everyone. "The battles at Veilstone City and Mt. Chimney should start any time now. Remember, I have direct access to all communicative devices used at these sites. I'll keep you informed of events as they unfold."

"_We'll_ keep you informed," my brother corrected.

"Got it," said Tom. "Thanks, guys."

At the end of the bridge was a hole leading into the next cave. Here, the group found themselves on a relatively narrow strip of land between a rock wall on their left and a steep cliff on their right. They were at the top of the cliff; beneath it was an underground lake that covered the entirety of the rest of the room. The lights lined the cliff and the nearby wall, so once again, the kids could see nothing but deep darkness off to their right.

As they walked beside the lake, the _skree_ sounds from the Metroids behind the veil of darkness became more and more infrequent. The only confrontation they had in that next half-hour was with a wild Machoke, which Gardevoir easily fended off. Every once in a while, a wild Magicarp or Barboach would jump out of the water, and everyone would immediately turn their heads to look – only to see a wild fish rather than anything to be anxious about.

Every five or ten minutes, someone would inevitably ask about how the battles were going elsewhere. This got very annoying very fast, but the stakes were high enough that my brother and I both answered faithfully, just as we promised, with only minimal amounts of snark. At first, it was hard to give any answer. The reports we were receiving didn't really reveal anything besides the fact that the battles at Mt. Chimney and Veilstone City were, in fact, happening, as planned. Eventually, the details became clearer. The Governor had anticipated that Mt. Chimney would be a much tougher fight than the Veilstone base. But he had underestimated just how big the difference was. This was partially thanks to the sizeable army of ordinary trainers who had been recruited from Veilstone City to join the fight. In fact, "sizeable" is an understatement – nearly every trailer in the city helped out. The Governor had definitely underestimated their contribution. But the base itself was the weakest by a huge margin – many dozen Pirates inhabited the building, but they were mostly weak Troopers. Not to mention the damage Samus had already done with her ship missile. Within fifteen minutes, the base was already starting to fall apart for the Pirates.

In contrast, the Pirate base at the top of Mt. Chimney had a stronger defense than expected. The first reports I heard estimated the number of Pirates there to be about 150. But that number kept getting higher. The next estimate I heard was 160. Then, later, it was 180. And then they were saying that there may be as many as two hundred Space Pirates atop Mt. Chimney. These Space Pirates came in all varieties: Troopers, Aerotroopers, Elites, Ki-Hunters – the whole deal. They also had turrets and other mounted weapon defenses. And they had they higher ground. Additionally, there were no trainers to recruit at the peak of a volcano.

Twenty-five minutes in, the government was already transporting some elite trainers from Veilstone to Mt. Chimney in anticipation of victory at the former.

These reports were pretty much the only form of communication during this subterranean lakeside walk. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet, uneventful, and – above all – anxious for everyone involved. Despite their anxiety, they only encountered a Metroid once, when they were very close to the next room. It tried to attack them from behind, but Vaporeon froze it in place. Swampert, Gengar, and Magneton then helped Vaporeon finish the job.

At the end of the room with the lake was a staircase leading upward. Our group ascended it. It took a couple minutes to get the top – it was a tall staircase. The next cave was wide-open and fairly straightforward. Well, straightforward for us, as the group already knew to continue their straight path rather than veer off to the side somewhere. Incidentally, if one went far enough to either side in that particular room, they would eventually be on their way to one of the Route 211 Mt. Coronet entrances. But those were both blocked off now, due to the Metroid infestation. Speaking of which, Metroids were neither seen nor heard while the group walked through this dark, open cave. A couple wild Pokémon (a Golbat and a surprisingly strong Clefairy) had to be taken care of, but that was it. Once they crossed this cave, another large staircase lay before them. They ascended it, and into the next cave they went.

In terms of spaciousness, the last cave paled in comparison to this one. It was shaped like an inverted pyramid, with our group at the very tippy bottom. In other words, we had nowhere to go but up… and up, and up, and up. It was a very tall room. A very wide and long one, too. And the higher you got, the wider and longer it was.

They walked up the staircase in front of them to get to the next "step" up. They would then walk along the wall until they got to the next staircase, and ascend that as well. The process would then repeat. Tom and Jude kept looking at the maps on me and my brother, respectively, to make sure we were going the right way. Occasionally, a wild Pokémon would have to be dealt with, but not very often.

"Not that I'm complaining," Manny said at one point, "but whatever happened to the Metroids?"

"It makes sense that they would be kept near the colder entrances," Samus noted. "They're easier to contain that way."

They climbed and climbed the upside-down pyramid of a cave. Meanwhile, victory was at hand over at Veilstone. The surviving Space Pirates at that base were getting in their ships and flying away, aware that they had been defeated. They were going to Mt. Chimney to help defend their comrades. The elite trainer force was getting into ships of their own and following the Pirates' lead.

At the top of this tall room, the group went up yet another staircase to finally get to the next cave. This one was the most simplistic yet – it was nothing more than a narrow, straight hallway forward, with a few steps upward here and there. There were no wild Pokémon to be found, other than a few sleeping Golbat hanging from the ceiling.

After walking through this tunnel for a while, a literal light at the end of the tunnel shone brightly before them. When they got closer, the temperature dropped significantly. "You all might want to put your coats back on," Samus told the teenagers. They stopped for a moment in order to do so. Once they were prepared, they stepped outside, onto the edge of Mt. Coronet.

Upon stepping outside, Tom spent a moment just taking in his surroundings. As he did so, I could feel his body slowly going numb – and no, it wasn't because of the freezing cold. He was very high up – thousands of feet above the green carpet of grass and trees lining the mountain's base. And yet he was not yet even halfway to the mountain's peak, which was now hidden above a layer of white clouds; these clouds were currently producing a flurry of snow. We were at the very bottom of the "white" section of the mountain – the whole steep slope beneath us was grey rock, while everything above us was white with snow. Everything to our left and right was white, too – the mountain was enormous. It's hard to describe Tom's exact physical reaction. It was as if his body was shrinking into itself, trying to imitate the tininess that this mountain was now pressing upon the boy. It must be hard to feel like anything more than a tiny speck on the edge of something that huge.

"Oh wow," April whispered. Tom was obviously thinking the same thing.

They continued admiring their surroundings as they began walking, though their attempts to stay focused were successful eventually. They walked along the mountain's edge, slowly spiraling toward its peak. The kids, not used to such long and steep hikes, often supported themselves by leaning against the edge of the mountain; more often, though, they would use their Pokémon for support. Samus herself was having no trouble, and was slightly irritated that these kids were slowing her down… but she knew that they weren't in anything close to the physical shape she was in. (And they weren't wearing super-powered armor, either.) Really, it was amazing the kids were holding up as well as they were, though I think this was mostly thanks to adrenaline, which I could feel releasing in Tom's system almost nonstop.

"How goes the battle on Mt. Chimney?" Peter asked for the umpteenth time.

"It's a stalemate," answered my brother (he and I were taking turns). "Many Pirates have been killed, but at least as many Pokémon have fainted or been injured. Since the last time you asked, neither side has made any real progress. The trainers are now temporarily retreating in order to heal their Pokémon and regroup. The Space Pirates are putting up one hell of a fight. Right now I'm hearing signs that the government's going to actually go down to the towns near Mt. Chimney and try to recruit the strongest trainers to help out."

Samus realized that they were in big trouble if progress wasn't made soon on Mt. Chimney. Her group could take a lot, but they couldn't take on 200 Space Pirates at once. She dared not speak that thought aloud, though; spirits had to be kept high for the greatest chance of success. "If this is the worst setback they face, then we don't have too much to worry about," she said. "They'll be stronger after this lull… and the Pirates won't be."

As they spiraled their way up the mountain, the snow gradually got harder; eventually, it was no longer just a flurry. Then they saw another entrance to the caves ahead of them; they would need to pass through more of them before they got to Spear Pillar. "We might as well keep our coats on this time," said Tom. "We'll have to go back out again anyway, and we shouldn't keep wasting time taking them on and off." Everyone else agreed. And so the five humans and eight Pokémon left the morning brightness to enclose themselves in darkness.

_Crunch_

This was both the first thing Samus heard upon entering the cave and the first thing she felt. She stopped to look down at what she had stepped on. "Oh no," she despaired; "Fucking shit," said Peter, ever the blunt one.

It was quite clear to both of them what this thing was. "A Metroid shell," Samus explained. "There's more than just larval Metroids in here. Be on the lookout; we don't know what could be hidden in the shadows."

Then, as if to prove her point, they were attacked by something from the shadows. Something very swift – Manny, with his lightning-fast reflexes, grabbed onto it before ever getting a good look at it. His move stopped it mid-flight, and now everyone could see what it was: an Alpha Metroid. The first, most simplistic evolved form after a larva in the SR-388 Metroid life cycle. It was trying to continue its charge, but Manny held it in place. Samus and the Pokémon then attacked it until it was no more.

"Speak of the devil," Jude muttered.

This cave was more complicated than the others. There was a waterfall to their right, creating a stream that split the room in half; in the dim light, Tom could barely make out this distant waterfall if he squinted. There were several layers of ground above the waterfall; this, of course, was where they were headed. They walked through the extremely spacious room, hearing more Metroid screeches than was strictly comfortable. Tom felt even more nervous than before. He continuously looked around in every direction – and he wasn't the only one. The threat felt more real to them now.

Unfortunately, their fear was justified. In a fraction of a second, Tom went from nervous to dying. "_Gaaaaah!_" he screamed when he realized just how much pain he was in. The cause of this pain was a tentacle which had just latched onto his head. I could feel his very life leaving his body very, very quickly. Fortunately, this only lasted for about half a second, after which Manny forcefully removed the tentacle from his master, shouting "Oh no you _don't!_" The tentacle latched onto Manny instead. Then Samus shot the long, deformed-looking Hunter Metroid to whom the tentacle belonged with her Ice Beam. It froze in its position, which turned out to be about fifteen feet away from them. Manny let go of the tentacle; Samus, with help from Kim and Magneton, finished the Hunter Metroid off.

"Are you okay?" Manny asked his trainer.

"Yeah," said Tom, "I think." I knew that he was, indeed, okay – the Hunter Metroid didn't have time to do any significant harm to him. But the pain had put him in shock, and he was jittering all over. "You're fine too, right?"

"Heck yeah," said Manny. "I can take way more than that."

The group kept walking, ever cautious of their surroundings. Tom was panting, still trying to get a grip on himself. Unfortunately, once they reached the waterfall, the group experienced another shock. The tentacle of another Hunter Metroid latched onto Magneton.

Peter gasped, but Magneton was never in any real danger. The electricity that it used the Hunter Metroid's tentacle to conduct was so strong, the Metroid actually let go to stop the pain. Samus froze it with her Ice beam. Magneton and Samus kept attacking it until it had turned into frozen goop.

"Perfect!" said Peter. Samus wondered what he was referring to, but the answer became obvious right away. Magneton was glowing white. The three connected Magnemite merged into each other until there was one large middle unit and two smaller side units. It grew an antenna, among other minor changes. The white glow disappeared, and Magneton had evolved into Magnezone.

Peter pet Magnezone's metal exterior. "Magneton can only evolve in places like Mt. Coronet, which has some kind of magnetic field or something. I was waiting for this to happen – I figured my team should be as strong as possible before we get to Spear Pillar." Samus agreed, but she couldn't help but wonder whether evolution's bright glow attracted any unwanted attention. Then again, wouldn't the electricity and general commotion of a fight have done that already?

They walked up the staircase that would take them above the waterfall. Then Samus saw that she was right – someone _had_ taken noticed them. And it was flying right at them. Samus quickly entered Hyper Mode and shot the Phazon Metroid as fast as she could. It struggled against the Phazon shots, flying towards her in spite of them. It was mere inches from her face when it finally exploded.

"A Phazon Metroid," said Samus. "I don't believe it. What the hell have the Pirates been up to?"

As they continued walking, she explained herself. "That hunter Metroid – the thing that attacked Tom – is another evolved Metroid form, but from a different life cycle than what you've seen so far. It requires a lot of Phazon to activate that life cycle. The thing I just killed was a Phazon Metroid, which comes from yet _another_ Metroid life cycle, one which also requires Phazon to activate. I don't know how the Pirates got their hands on so much Phazon, but they certainly have been busy with it."

On they marched, uncertain of what awaited each step. Usually, it was nothing, even though the constant screeches kept them on their toes. They didn't encounter any living wild Pokémon, the key word here being "living". There were plenty of dead ones in their path… and from the mess that always accompanied them, it was clear that they had not died peacefully. Tom got a little sickly when he looked at these increasingly gruesome remains. April was the only one who looked sicklier than Tom – I was afraid she was going to vomit. Surprisingly, in the end, April was not the one who regurgitated. Manny was. He had held up perfectly fine for the most part, but seeing the disemboweled bodies of a family of Machoke was just too much for him.

They were now far above the river near the cave's entrance, which was also far behind them. The room got higher as it got deeper, and an assortment of staircases aided this ascent. Meanwhile, the scene at Mt. Chimney was uncertain. The trainers were holding back somewhat, afraid that a bold rush would result in too many defeats and deaths on their side to tolerate. Both sides were holding their ground, but neither seemed certain of who had the upper hand. Nobody asked me or my brother about the battle, though. Perhaps they were too afraid of what they might hear.

Eventually, deep within the room, they were walking alongside the left wall. This is significant due to the interesting objects Tom saw lining this wall. Every fifteen feet or so, something that looked like a tri-pointed metal claw protruded from the rock cave wall. "Wait a moment," said Tom, pointing to one of these contraptions, "is this part of the machine you were talking about, Samus? The one that the Pirates are using Metroid to power?"

"Almost certainly," Samus answered. "And before you ask, I know as little about its function as you do. They're trying to control… something. Whatever it is, more power in Space Pirate hands is a bad thing no matter what. So don't worry about it for now. We're getting closer to the peak."

She was right: they were getting closer. In fact, they were now at the end of the cave. In front of them was a very large spiral staircase. They climbed up and up, still looking around now and then, even though they neither saw nor heard any other life forms in this shaft. At the top of the staircase was another portal to the outside world. Everyone stepped through it, clearly relieved to be leaving this place of horrors, even just temporarily.

There were no spectacular views from the mountainside this time. There was just snow. It was a full-on blizzard now, and whiteness filled the air. Actually, the whiteness wasn't just from the snow – they were right beneath a cloud now, and were about to walk right up into it. But I doubt Tom and the others knew that, or even could know – the snow was so thick, the air would have seemed solidly white either way.

A few Pokémon changes were in order. Tom switched out Kim for Charlie; Jude switched Swampert with Arcanine; April withdrew Gardevoir and sent out Flareon. The three fire-type Pokémon helped pave (or rather, melt) the way for their weary trainers. Actually, Tom was a bit less weary than I'd expect after such a long hike… but again, it was probably the continuous flow of adrenaline in his body that made him less aware of his own fatigue. Whatever the case, he fought his way through the harsh winds and thick snow, determined not to slow the group down.

As they spiraled up the mountainside, the snow got weaker and fell in a less condensed manner. At the same time, the air got moister, and its increasingly thick whiteness compensated for the thinner snow. They were walking deeper into the cloud. This was a problem for the fire-type Pokémon, but they persisted nonetheless.

Meanwhile, I received a very important piece of news from the battle at Mt. Chimney. While nobody had asked about that for a while, I was sure they would want to hear this. "Good news, everyone," I said. "The Eon Pokémon – Latios and Latias – have joined the trainers at Mt. Chimney and are helping them fight the Pirates as I speak. The addition seems to have really tipped the scales in our favor. Pokémon are rushing up the volcano now, and the Pirates are dying out faster than ever."

The group responded with a mixture of stifled cheers and sighs of relief. "Thank goodness," said Samus. "Things might really go according to plan now. If they can kill off most of them by the time we get to the peak, we can go to Spear Pillar with as much confidence as we could ever hope for."

Eventually, it was time to re-enter the caves. Tom tensed up tightly the moment he saw the large hole in the mountain leading inside. Clearly, nobody was eager to go back into those nerve-wracking caves, but there wasn't much of a choice. They all drew a deep breath and then stepped from the near-complete whiteness into the near-complete blackness.

_Skree!_

Samus, the first one to go inside, was almost instantly assaulted by an aggressive Zeta Metroid. Weavile was there in a heartbeat, directing her Ice Beams at it. But Zeta Metroids aren't nearly as weak to low temperatures as the lesser evolved Metroids. Still, it didn't have much of a chance. While it did manage to spit one glob of venom onto Samus's armor, Samus and Weavile managed to dodge most of its attacks while bludgeoning it with powerful attacks of their own. Once the other Pokémon arrived, the battle was almost over. It was Arcanine who delivered the final blow – an ExtremeSpeed to the Zeta Metroid's soft underbelly. The Metroid fell down and stopped moving.

The Metroid screeches were now more abundant than ever before; they seemed to fill the room, corner to corner. Wordlessly, the group got closer together, becoming as tight collectively as their muscles had become individually. Kim, Swampert, Gardevoir, and Jeffrey were sent back out, replacing Charlie, Arcanine, Flareon, and Magnezone, respectively. They had to be more prepared for combat now. But they also had to do as much as possible to avoid combat. Unfortunately, combat was not always avoidable. Before even reaching the other side of the relatively shallow cave, a trio of Hopping Metroids attacked and had to be dealt with. The four-legged, Phazon-enhanced Metroids were still weak to cold, but not much. It took a lot of effort on the part of every Pokémon except Manny and Gardevoir (who stood guard), as well as Samus, to kill the creatures. Afterwards, a few Pokémon were wounded and were fed Potions to be healed.

They got to the other side of the cave, then began ascending the spiral staircase that awaited them. The staircases were getting longer and longer, meaning that each one took them higher and higher. It was clear that these particular caves were carved out specifically for those who wished to reach the top of Mt. Coronet. The Pirates had other plans for them, though. The higher we all got, the more traces of machinery poked out of the rock walls. Sometimes metal panels covered these walls; at other places, random bits of wiring hung out of the rock. Higher up, the place kept becoming less of a mountain and more of a giant machine.

We crossed several more caves and ascended several more staircases. Nobody dared speak a word or make a move that might attract attention. A couple more Metroids attacked – a Gamma Metroid and a particularly irritating Fission Metroid – but our Pokémon were strong, and Samus was even stronger. These few Metroids were taken out relatively easily, though they did leave some marks. Although the caves were becoming denser with Metroid life, our little group managed to avoid crossing paths with the vast majority of them. At one particularly tense moment, Samus noticed a pair of Omega Metroids on a cliff above her. Omega Metroids are huge, and their tremendous strength is second only to the Queen Metroid. There was no telling how much it would take to defeat two of them. Samus made everyone hug the wall below the cliff as they made their way across the cave. The tactic didn't hide them completely. But it was good enough. They got to the other end of the cave without the need for combat.

The next staircase was straightforward, not spiral. Thanks to my map, everyone was aware that the room at the other end was, in fact, the highest cave in the mountain, and the one that led directly to Spear Pillar. In other words, their destination was now within reach. Samus stopped, and everyone else stopped with her. "We're almost there," she said. "What is the status at Mt. Chimney?"

"Our side is doing extremely well," said my brother. "The trainers have been crushing the Pirates for some time now. It's hard to say how many Pirates are left, but I'd estimate about fifty, and that number is falling quickly. The Pirates are on the verge of defeat. Soon, they will inevitably abandon their post and join the guards at Spear Pillar."

"Perfect," said Samus. "Our timing couldn't be better." This was true. Had they attacked Spear Pillar earlier, all of the Pirates at Mt. Chimney would have immediately come to fight them – and there would have been much more of them. But had they taken longer, the Pirates who survived defeat at Mt. Chimney would have already come to Spear Pillar, and would already be awaiting our arrival. But there was no time to say all of this now. Instead, Samus just said "Come on," and started walking up the stairs again, faster than before.

But Samus stopped once again when she saw what awaited her in the final cave. It was a relatively small, round room, and a very large hole led to Spear Pillar at the opposite side. But something was currently resting inside that hole. That something was actually someone's upper half – specifically, that of the Queen Metroid whose backside now faced us.

The Queen Metroid was a huge, four-legged creature. Its body was scaly and somewhat reptilian, similar to Zeta and Omega Metroids. Unlike other Metroids, however, it had a long, retractable neck and a large, toothy jaw. Its belly was soft, Samus knew, but remained hidden due to its contact with the ground. Behind the Queen was a deep hole that took up most of the room. The hole was almost completely filled with eggs. Tiny Metroids floated above the eggs; they were far too small to pose any threat.

"Incredible," said Samus. "They have a Queen Metroid, and they've been using her to hatch even more Metroids. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But if we want to get to Spear Pillar, we'll have to get past her – which means that there was one more guard than we thought."

Samus then looked past the Queen Metroid to see what awaited them at Spear Pillar. She couldn't see much, since the Queen Metroid blocked her view. But by sneaking around the room and looking out at multiple angles, she could get a decent picture of their destination. It was just as the satellite images had shown: Ridley and Kraid were at opposite ends of the platform; a small group of Pirates, along with some ground-to-air weaponry, were at the center; at the furthest end of Spear Pillar was Mother Brain, protected by several Zebetite barriers. There were three things surrounding her – three large, whitish, round things – but Samus could not tell what they were from that distance.

"Okay," said Samus (quietly, so as to not be heard by the Queen Metroid), "listen up. When we get out there, the first thing we'll want to do is get rid of those Pirates near the weapons. If we don't at least get them away from those weapons, it'll be much harder for the legendary birds to come join us. But to do that, we'll need to distract Ridley, Kraid, and Queen Metroid. I'm going to take on Ridley, which leaves the other two."

"I'll take care of the Queen Metroid," said Jude.

"In that case, I'll take Kraid," said Tom. "I have a…."

"No, wait," Samus interrupted. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Tom and Jude are the strongest trainers in this group." Nobody argued. "April, I want you to distract the Queen Metroid; Peter, I want you to distract Kraid. Tom and Jude will kill the Pirates manning the weapons. Does this seem fair to everyone?" Everyone affirmed that it did, indeed, seem fair. "Good. Now, Tom, call for Lugia. It'll take a short while for the legendary Pokémon to arrive."

Tom took out Lugia's feather and concentrated on calling out to the Pokémon with his brain, something he was obviously not accustomed to doing. Meanwhile, everyone decided that this was an opportune time to use Potions to get their Pokémon fully healed. None of the Pokémon were seriously hurt, but they would want to be in top-notch shape when the coming battle began.

Samus tried to think of something to say to these kids that might ease their nerves or rise their spirits. But her mind was far too preoccupied to come up with encouraging words. Instead, the only words that came to Samus's lips were "Good luck."

And thus began the most famous battle in what is now known as the Pocketian Space Pirate War: the Battle of Spear Pillar.


	28. Spear Pillar

The four trainers rushed toward the cave's exit, releasing all of their Pokémon as they ran. April ran several paces ahead of the others. When she got near the Queen Metroid, she made Milotic and Meganium ram into her head. April's other four Pokémon then joined them, keeping close to the left side of the cave wall. The Queen Metroid thrashed her head about to fend off the surprise attack. The commencing battle diverted the Queen's attention to her left, leaving the right side of the cave exit open for the others. "Go!" shouted April, and the three other trainers ran outside. Samus stopped only briefly to tell April about the Queen Metroid's weak points: her mouth and her neck, as well as the pit of her belly, provided that she expose it. Then Samus, too, ran toward Spear Pillar.

Tom's initial reaction, irrational though it may be, was relief. He had come to subconsciously associate the dark caves with the horrors inside, and his body relaxed once he stepped into the morning light. But that didn't last long. As soon as Tom laid eyes on the scene that awaited him, his heart rate shot right back up to where it had been, then gradually got even higher.

Spear Pillar was basically a large, white, stone surface at the top of Mt. Coronet. Tall stone columns stood all around the sides, but many of them had crumbled or fallen over. A couple of small rock arches stood between the rows of columns, but these, too, had worn out with age. It was a very old place that had been built long before humans had come to Pocket. But though the location was quite a sight to behold, nobody was focusing on it. Tom and Jude were focusing on the twelve Space Pirates surrounding several canon-like structures at the center of the platform. Peter kept his eyes on the green giant to his right, while Samus focused on the Space Dragon on her left.

The fighting began before Tom's adrenaline glands had time to realize just how stressful this situation should be. But they went wild once Manny narrowly dodged a shot aimed at him. And in the following seconds, Tom's body would become more pumped up than I had ever felt it before, and it would remain in that state for the rest of the battle.

Between Tom and Jude, there were twelve Pokémon to fight the twelve Pirates. Theoretically, that meant one Pokémon per Pirate. But the Pirates were not nearly as organized as the trainers; the Pokémon fought as a single team, whereas each Pirate merely fired away at whatever Pokémon happened to be nearest. First, Jude ordered Jolteon to run around the circle of Pirates as fast as he could, shocking each of them as he went. Tom got on Manny's back for protection and ordered Albert to set up a Reflect barrier around the team. When he saw what Jolteon was doing, he ordered Ralph to do the same. Now was not the time for allowing his pride to stop him from copying his rival's tactic.

On one side, Swampert was using Hydro Pump on the Pirates; Tom told Kim to team up with him for a combined Hydro Pump attack. On the other side, Charlie was Fire Blasting the Pirates; Jude got Arcanine to join him for a combined Fire Blast attack. Jude was hiding behind Snorlax to protect himself from the Space Pirates guns. Gengar was hiding there as well, using Confuse Rays on the Pirates through a space between Snorlax's legs. Tom ordered Umanda to join him. Skarmory flittered above the pirates, slashing any one of them who dared attack her allies with her sharp talons and wings. The Pirates were surrounded, and were being attacked by all sorts of elemental attacks from every angle. A few of them were confused enough, thanks to Umanda and Gengar, that they began attacking each other. It was clear who had the advantage in this fight. Soon enough, the Space Pirates began dropping, one by one.

The moment Kraid laid eyes on Peter, the boy treated the beast to a view of his middle finger. Kraid's middle belly button was on level with Spear Pillar – he was standing on a ledge below. Out of this belly-hole Kraid shot a thick, long spike, aimed directly at Peter. Jeffrey hit the spike with his claws, redirecting it just in time. Peter stayed right behind Jeffrey from then on. Meanwhile, at Peter's orders, Honchkrow flew up to Night Slash Kraid in the eyeballs. Kraid – who is not particularly bright – opened his mouth to spit rocks at Honchkrow. Instead, he got a mouthful of Thunder, leaves, rocks, and water. He tried to keep his mouth closed after that, using his detachable claws as his primary weapon. His first two claw-throws hit Torterra and Magnezone. They responded with a Leaf Storm and a Thunder to his eyes, causing him to roar in pain, allowing the Pokémon to attack him in the mouth.

Samus had no desire to speak with the monster she now faced, the monster she had faced so many times in so many places, the monster who had led the destruction of her home planet, before attacking. She simply jumped over to him and opened fire. Ridley flew away from her line of fire and thrust his sharp tail at Samus, but she dodged it and shot more missiles at him. Both of these fighters had now learned from experience. Samus knew to be cautious of his tail and talons, and to try to attack him in the mouth as much as possible. Ridley knew to keep his mouth closed as much as possible, opening it only slightly if he needed to spit fire at his eternal rival. Ridley flew away from the mountain to spit fireballs from a distance. Samus dodged the fireballs and shot more missiles, most of which Ridley dodged. It was going to be a long fight.

April probably didn't realize it, but she had one of the toughest tasks of all. The Queen Metroid, to put it mildly, is no wuss. Four larval Metroid unexpectedly popped out of her armored back and attacked. Weavile had one hell of a hard time freezing all of them before they could do any serious harm. One of the Metroids latched onto Meganium; another latched onto Pachirisu. For a moment, I thought that April might panic. But she suppressed the urge, probably knowing that she had to set an example for her team. She watched sternly as Weavile froze all four Metroids while dodging the Queen's fiery breath. Weavile slashed one of the Metroids out of existence; Meganium used Body Slam to smash another; Pachirisu used Thunder on a third until it split into several icy shards; Flareon, Milotic, and Gardevoir quickly finished off the fourth. From then on, it was a simple matter of April having her team attack the Queen's head and neck while avoiding her fire-breathing attack. April herself had to run from the fire too. She barely dodged it in time – the flames hit the edge of her coat. April took off her slowly burning coat and tossed it aside. She then got on Meganium's back – something I had only rarely see her do before – to keep herself away from harm as she oversaw the battle. As the fight continued, an idea struck April. She told Flareon to only partially dodge the Queen's fire breath. Thanks to his Flash Fire ability, Flareon absorbed the extra fire and used it to power up his own attacks.

Near the cannons, a couple of Space Pirates burned to death. A couple more had conducted too much voltage and fell on the ground, still convulsing. A few very confused Pirates had their bones crushed thanks to the water pressure being applied to them, then were electrocuted as well. In this manner, all twelve Space Pirates were eventually killed. Not a single one of Tom and Jude's Pokémon had fainted in the fight. One had come close, though – Snorlax was a big target, and the gunshot wounds in his belly bled furiously. But he still had some fight left in him. Swampert and Albert were bleeding too, but not badly. While some other Pokémon had been shot, their hides were extremely tough and could easily take it.

Albert, who was very good at deduction, figured out how to disable the ground-to-air cannons. Then Tom and his team ran off to help Peter, while Jude and his team ran off to help April. Jude tried to help Samus too, but she insisted that she fight Ridley alone. Kraid and the Queen Metroid suddenly found themselves somewhat overwhelmed. But that didn't last long. The other Space Pirates had arrived.

They appeared, out of thin air, in droves. Within seconds, they covered the entirety of Spear Pillar, not leaving much space unoccupied. They came in all types. About half of them were the weak, blue-and-yellow-clad troopers. Others were larger, with more elaborate weapons. Some had golden armor; others wore silver. There were Aerotroopers with jetpacks and green Ki-hunters with bug-like wings. There were even a couple of bulky, Phazon-enhanced Elite Pirates. Overall, there were more of them than we had predicted – about fifty. And they came instantaneously. Apparently, they had all been wearing crude teleporters – not nearly enough to travel between planets, but enough to get them from Hoenn to Sinnoh quite easily, should Mother Brain need more guards.

If it was pandemonium before, it _really _was now. Trainers faced the tough choice of how many Pokémon to divert away from their current target – be it Kraid or the Queen Metroid – to fight the newcomers. Mostly, the decision was made on its own – the Pokémon had to defend themselves against the horde of Pirates advancing on them, and that meant facing them in combat. Kraid and the Queen tried to attack these opponents who had just turned their backs on them, but they had to be cautious, or else they could hurt their own allies. Nonetheless, the Pokémon and trainers were now both outnumbered and surrounded. Tom became more tense than I had thought possible. He made Manny (whom he was still on top of) run over to Charlie, then jumped from the former's back to the latter's. Charlie could fly him away from danger while he commanded his team… or, rather, attempted to. So chaotic was the battle now that the trainers had great difficulty keeping track of all of their Pokémon, to say nothing of commanding them.

Naturally, many of the Space Pirates shot at Samus the moment they saw her. Samus knew that they wouldn't dare shoot at Ridley, and decided to use this fact to her advantage. The next time Ridley got above her, she jumped up high and grabbed onto him. They wrestled in the air, while at the same time attempting to spit fire or shoot missiles at their foe. Samus managed to shoot one super missile point-blank at Ridley's cranium. But Samus had to let go of Ridley with her free hand to do this. Ridley now let go of Samus as well, disconnecting the two foes. On her way to the ground, Ridley picked Samus back up in his hind claws, leaving her at his mercy. He swooped down, scraping Samus against the hard rock structures, laughing whenever she groaned with pain at the impact. Then he tossed her off of the mountain. Spear Pillar is at the top of a cliff, so she had a long way to fall before hitting the ground.

She would have, that is, had Articuno not caught her first.

The legendary birds had arrived. Zapdos, Moltres, and Lugia flew over the crowd in unison. The yellow, jagged-edged Zapdos left electrical sparks in its trail; Moltres had yellowish feathers but blazed with huge red flames; a trail of glitter followed Articuno, the blue, icy legendary; Lugia, who was more than twice as large as any of the others, left a trail of mist. Articuno put Samus back on Spear Pillar. The other birds flew above the crowd, dodging shots from the Space Pirates while briefly attacking them back. Zapdos and Moltres flew towards Kraid; Lugia flew towards the Metroid Queen.

The trainers were extremely fortunate to have these new allies, because they had been in real trouble. Snorlax had finally been shot enough times to actually bring him down; Jude, who'd been using Snorlax for protection, quickly called Skarmory over so he could get on her back and fly a safer distance from the attackers. Gardevoir had attacked a group of Pirates with Psychic to divert their attention from April and Meganium; unfortunately, this left her open to an attack from the Metroid Queen. The Queen's breath burnt her horrendously, and April had to withdraw her. More or less the same thing happened with Torterra, who was withdrawn after one final blow from Kraid's rock-hard spittle. None of Tom's Pokémon had fainted yet, but Kim and Albert were both very close to it now.

But now things were different. Zapdos and Moltres alone were enough to distract Kraid, allowing Tom and Peter's teams to focus entirely on the horde of Space Pirates. Both birds flew around Kraid's head, burning and electrifying him while he swiped his claws at them without much success. Zapdos thrust his long beak deep into Kraid's middle eye. It gave Kraid enough time to slash Zapdos with his claw, but the bird had done much more damage than Kraid had.

Lugia vs. the Queen Metroid was truly something to behold. So spectacular was the clash between the titans that, to this day, I will still occasionally take it out of my memory storage unit and play it back for myself if I'm bored. When they met, the Queen blasted a huge stream of fire at Lugia, who blasted a huge stream of water back. The two streams collided and pushed against each other. In the end, Lugia's water extinguished the flame, but never quite reached its opponent's head. Lugia did that on its own instead, abandoning its water attack to whack the Queen in the head with its wings. The Queen retaliated by slamming her head into Lugia's stomach.

Articuno fired several Ice Beams at Ridley, but the Space Dragon destroyed them with fireballs before they could hit him. Articuno then used Blizzard instead, blowing huge gusts of sharp snow at Ridley. Ridley tried to fly away from the attack, but the wind slowed him down while the sharp ice tore at his wings. Enraged, he spit several fireballs at Articuno, two of which hit her.

Samus was, at first, content to let Articuno help take down her nemesis. But soon she realized this was more than just help – Articuno was the only one fighting Ridley. Samus wanted to fight him as well, but Space Pirates flocked to her and she found herself with no choice but to shift her focus on them. But she had unfinished business to take care of. "Articuno!" she shouted. "Let's switch places!" Articuno, upon hearing this, flapped her wings and blew a powerful wind at the Pirates who were shooting at Samus. As the Pirates struggled against the wind, Samus ran back to Ridley so they could continue from where they left off.

Kim, who was bleeding badly, put everything she had into one final attack. A powerful wave swept across an entire group of Pirates, toppling them over. A couple of them were then shocked by Jolteon and Ralph, killing them. The rest got back up quickly and shot at Kim until she had fainted. Actually, they continued shooting even after she had fainted. Tom withdrew her quickly. In this battle, death awaited any Pokémon who was not withdrawn the moment it could no longer fight.

Peter was still standing behind Jeffrey for protection. Once Jeffrey had ripped off the head of a Space Pirate for the third time, he began glowing white. The Space Pirate shots now went right through him. Panicked, Peter ran over behind Magnezone instead. From there, he watched as Jeffrey grew bigger and bigger. The glow gradually faded, revealing the evolved Omega Metroid within. Jeffrey been about Peter's height before, but was a good two and half times taller now. And his mouth was no longer round; he had a complete jaw, one filled with ultra-sharp teeth. He used these teeth to shred apart a Ki-Hunter that was jumping towards him. During this evolution, Magnezone fought a fierce battle with the surrounding Pirates; it caused them a load of harm, but, in the end, there were too many of them. Magnezone fainted just as Jeffrey finished evolving. Peter withdrew Magnezone, but he did not seem frightened. In fact, he seemed ectstatic. He jumped onto Jeffrey's diamond-hard back and climbed it as much as he could. "Shred them up, Jeffrey!" said Peter. His Omega Metroid obeyed.

Generally, the smaller Pokémon were doing much better than the large ones. Ralph, Pachirisu, and Jolteon ran through a forest of Space Pirate legs, zapping each one they came near. Their speed, smallness, and proximity to fellow Pirates made them very difficult targets. Umanda had made herself an even more difficult target by digging herself a trench from which she used Confuse Ray and Dark Pulse. Gengar had joined her to do the same. Should a Pirate find and shoot in her hole, she simply dug a tunnel away from that spot and over to another, where she and Gengar would set up camp again.

Most of this was done at the trainers' orders. But then Manny got an idea that had not been ordered, and decided to go with it. He picked up one of Kraid's belly-spikes which Jeffrey had tossed aside a while ago. Nearby, an ancient pillar of stone lay on the ground. Manny picked this up as well with his two free hands. Then he ran into the horde of Space Pirates, stabbing them with the spike, smashing their heads in with the pillar, and using both to deflect oncoming fire.

It's easy to describe any singular part of the battle, but it's probably impossible to really describe the entire battle itself. Blood, thunder, fire, water, ice, ammo, dust, and leaves connected the Pirates and the Pokémon into a single entity. Ten Pirates were dead now… and, with the fall of Milotic and Albert, seven Pokémon had fainted as well. But those numbers were meaningless – each Pirate and each Pokémon were in varying levels of pain, so it was impossible to tell what the situation was really like. Though the trainers all had Revives, there was no chance that they'd be able to use them – it took time to revive a fainted Pokémon, and now they had neither the time nor the space to do it. They could only hope that the Pokémon they had would be enough to finish the job. Otherwise… well, best not to dwell on that.

Peter's enthusiasm was very short lived, and died completely once a plasma shot from a Pirate missed his head by mere inches. While fighting one of the Elite Pirates, Peter and Jeffrey made an unfortunate discovery. They'd gotten too close to Mother Brain – and there, they found out what happened to those who did. Turrets, apparently, were connected to the Zebetite barriers surrounding Mother Brain, and these now fired at Jeffrey and Peter. Honchkrow swooped down to protect his master while Jeffrey brought him away from the turrets. It worked, in that Peter was never harmed… but the turrets easily shot down Honchkrow, and Peter had to withdraw him.

Tom, on Charlie's back, kept his distance from the battle. He occasionally ordered Charlie to use a Fire Blast, if an enemy or group of enemies looked particularly vulnerable. But mostly he just made sure Charlie dodged the many shots fired at him from Pirates who apparently thought that the best way to defeat a team was to kill the trainer. Jude, on Skarmory's back, was in the same situation. But while no plasma bullets hit Tom, one of them grazed Jude. It skimmed his back near his shoulders, tearing up layers of clothes; the wound splattered alarming quantities of blood. Arcanine immediately pounced on the Pirate who had hurt his master and blasted it with fire until it stopped struggling. Jude, who was probably in a lot of pain, continued giving orders as if nothing had happened.

April and Meganium were cornered, and April was having difficulty defending herself. Milotic had been a big help until she'd fainted. Weavile basically took her place, but despite her strength, she could only take so many plasma bullets before she fainted too. Still, April's team – with some help from Jude's Pokémon – barely managed to fend off the advancing Space Pirates.

Arcanine fainted after putting up one hell of a fight. Now almost half of the trained Pokémon had been knocked out, and the ones who hadn't were getting tired. Yet about thirty Space Pirates still fought on. That's not counting Ridley, Kraid, and the Queen Metroid, all of whom were holding their own.

But then something incredible happened. A group of creatures suddenly appeared on the peak, climbing up from the mountain below. They were bipedal, very tall, very large, and almost completely white. "Abomasnow!" Tom said happily. Indeed, it seemed that not all of the area's wild Pokémon were indifferent to this fight. A tribe of Abomasnow had climbed to the peak to deal with the invaders who had taken over part of their territory. They threw shards of ice at the Space Pirates.

With this new development, the Space Pirates were forced to spread their attention dangerously thin. And then real progress was made. One Pirate fell, then another, then another. They had been weakened, and now they were falling at a faster rate than ever before.

Kraid's skin had gotten very red, and his scales were gradually falling off. Blood oozed out beneath these fallen scales, and his mouth was bleeding too. He was very hurt, but still fighting hard. He had dealt a lot of damage to both Zapdos and Moltres, who were fighting more defensively now so as to not get killed. Manny, who was closer to this fight than any other Pokémon, had noticed. He had been too busy fighting the other Pirates before, but thanks to the Abomasnow, their attention had been diverted now. This gave him a chance to help Zapdos and Moltres out. He ran over to Kraid, who prepared to shoot a spike at Manny from his belly button. Manny had other ideas. He jammed the spike he was carrying into the human-sized hole in Kraid's stomach, pushing it inward with all his might. Kraid's spike pushed against it, and it took a huge amount of effort just for Manny to stop it from shooting out. But Manny was extremely strong, and he succeeded. Then, slowly, he pushed his own spike further into Kraid's belly. Kraid roared and flailed like he was in tremendous pain, which he probably was – those holes were meant for spikes to shoot out from, not to go into. Kraid stepped away from the mountainside… but Manny hung on, attaching two arms to Kraid's belly while the other two continued pushing in the spike. Blood spurted out of the hole as the spike went in deeper, covering Manny in red. A big swab of scales shot off of Kraid's back. Kraid was now completely frantic, swiping his arms about every which way, screaming, and pacing back and forth. Not that any of this did any good. Without a focused opponent, Zapdos and Moltres were more able to blast their fire and electricity at the monster's head.

Samus was having some difficulty. Her attempts to fight Ridley were complicated by the fact that every Space Pirate who saw her wanted to be the one to earn the honor of having killed the notorious Hunter. Even with Articuno trying to stop these Pirates from advancing, Samus often needed to help her out. This required shifting her focus away from Ridley, who would try – often successfully – to spit a fireball at her while her guard was down. Even with the Abomasnow helping out, this pattern continued.

Pachirisu was bruised, battered, and bleeding, but still fighting. She was near Articuno now, and helped the legendary bird fend off the Pirates. A few shots were fired at her; she dodged these by jumping away from the horde of Pirates altogether. This put her directly underneath Ridley.

It all happened within a tiny fraction of a second. Ridley thrust his tail at Pachirisu. The super-sharp tail penetrated Pachirisu's skin, then bore into her until it came out the other side, pushing her blood and entrails onto the white stone surface. Ridley pulled his tail back, cackling; Pachirisu's corpse, which now had a big hole through its stomach, lay still on the ground.

April barely turned her head to watch the carnage in time. Her face seemed blank, as if she was having trouble processing this information. She stared at her dead Pokémon – the one Pokémon whom she'd had since long before she was a trainer – with the same blank face for several seconds. Then she turned her attention back to the battle at hand. Clearly, she did not want to fall apart when she still had two Pokémon (Flareon and Meganium) to command. Her breathing got heavier and heavier, and her eyes became damp – yet, for the most part, she kept herself together.

But April wasn't the only one who had noticed Pachirisu's death. Ralph sprinted to the scene faster than I'd ever seen him sprint. He looked down at the corpse, then brought his face up to the murderer in the sky. Ridley was now back to fighting with Samus as if nothing had happened. There was something in Ralph's face that I don't think I can describe. It went beyond anger, or even grief. All I know is that the entire area at the edge of the cliff was becoming rife with static electricity. Little static shocks filled the air, becoming more and more abundant as the seconds ticked by.

"Raaaaaiiii… CHUUUUUUUU!"

And then came the biggest Thunder attack I had ever seen. Ridley was so engulfed in the bolt of lightning from above that he was barely visible inside it. The attack went on and on, forcing Samus to keep her distance and nearly zapping Articuno. Ralph was surrounded by a ball of static; he put everything he had into conducting this Thunder. Ridley screamed and convulsed without pause.

Finally, the attack ended. Ridley, still convulsing, fell to the ground. He looked extremely burnt, and was not getting up. Samus walked over to him. Ridley moved his wings in an attempt to get back up, but he merely convulsed again. Samus walked over to the immobile Space Dragon's head, then forced her Arm Cannon into his mouth. Ridley looked at her with pleading eyes, wordlessly begging for mercy.

"This is for my parents," said Samus, and then she opened fire.

Meanwhile, the fight between Lugia and the Queen Metroid raged on. Both were extremely injured, but both were determined not to lose. Peter watched as the Queen swung her head at Lugia yet again, and missed. The boy got an idea. Golem had been digging her way all around the battle – she would pop up for a moment, attack a few surprised Space Pirates, and then dig underground again before they could shoot. "Golem!" Peter shouted, pointing to the Queen Metroid. "Under her belly!"

A few seconds later, the Metroid Queen was pushed upward, forcing her onto her side. Golem had complied, popping up from beneath the Queen's soft belly. The Queen tried to get back up, but she was so weak now that this took a great amount of effort. Lugia stopped her from ever doing it. The legendary bird flapped its wings vigorously to use Aeroblast – an attack that fired a concentrated vortex of air – on the Queen's stomach, keeping her down. Golem threw a rapid succession of rocks at the Queen's stomach to help out. Eventually, the Queen's belly was sliced open, and she stopped struggling to get up. The Queen Metroid was no more.

Kraid's body was red and bloated, and almost all of his scales had fallen off. Manny was still gripping onto him, pushing the spike into Kraid's belly with all his might. Zapdos and Moltres were still attacking Kraid's head. Kraid was still frantically swiping at all of the space in front of him… but his eyes were so damaged now, he must have been blind, or at least close to it. Then, suddenly, Kraid's flailing stopped. Everything about him stopped, except for the blood dripping down his back and out his mouth. Zapdos and Moltres stopped, too. Then – very, very slowly – his body began leaning backwards. Its motion got faster and faster until it became clear that he wasn't leaning – he was falling. Or, rather, his dead body was. And so the enormous, defeated beast fell down the mountain. Manny was still clinging onto him.

The Abomasnow, who had no conception of strategy, simply attacked whoever attacked them first. And for many of them, this was not the Space Pirates – it was the turrets guarding Mother Brain. Since the turrets were connected to the Zebetite barriers, they were basically attacking Mother Brain's defenses even though twenty Space Pirates were still there to guard her. But that number was deceptive – the surviving Pirates had all been significantly weakened. Soon there were nineteen left, then eighteen, then seventeen. Now that Jeffrey had killed both Elite Pirates, he could easily finish off the weaker Pirates one by one while Peter watched atop his back.

With the Space Pirates getting smaller and smaller in number, many Pokémon went to help destroy the barriers protecting Mother Brain. Finally, the first of three layers of Zebetite casing was destroyed. A moment later, the turrets finished Vaporeon off, and Peter had to withdraw him. But nobody else went down. And now Zapdos was helping out. The other three legendary birds – as well as Samus – attacked the remaining Space Pirates, who were quickly dying out.

The second barrier was destroyed. Now there were only five Pirates left. Fifteen seconds later, the final barrier went down, and there were zero Pirates left. Now all that remained was a giant brain in a glass container. Every remaining Pokémon, plus Samus, ganged up on it. The glass was shattered in no time. Mother Brain began firing beams out of her single eye, but she had too many opponents, and they all made sure to stay away from the eye. With so many fierce warriors attacking a single opponent, it was no surprise that the battle was short. Eventually the red brain became gray and dry, and it stopped firing beams. Just like that – without any flare or fanfare – the Battle of Spear Pillar was over. We had won.

There was a booming, low-pitch sound that got lower and lower, as if a gigantic machine were deactivating. Which, of course, is exactly what was happening. Then everyone turned their attention to the three enormous things behind Mother Brain. They were the three white balls Samus had noticed earlier, but hadn't been able to tell what they were. This was because they'd been obscured by a white energy barrier – a barrier that now grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared altogether. Now there were three huge Pokémon standing before them. Samus stared at one of them in particular. She couldn't believe it – it was the Pokémon she had seen within Phantoon back on Ludus, just before the ghostly creature died. But it looked slightly different… for one thing, it had six legs, whereas the thing she'd seen earlier had none. Samus scanned the Pokémon to read its Pokédex entry:

GIRATINA

The master of extra dimensions. Legends tell of its banishment to the Distortion World, a dimension opposite to ours.

If this entry was true, Samus reasoned, then Phantoon must have given her a window into this "Distortion World", allowing her to see Giratina within it. Which… made sense, in a way. Samus scanned the other two Pokémon before her to learn that they were Dialga and Palkia, the masters of time and space, respectively. Or so the legends told.

Meanwhile, all four trainers had dismounted the Pokémon they had been riding. April ran towards Pachirisu's ravaged remains. But Peter beat her to it. He showed his palm, signaling for April to stop; she stopped. Then Peter reached into his backpack and pulled out a compression capsule. When he opened it, a thin white blanket was decompressed into his arms. He took this blanket and wrapped it around Pachirisu's torn-up body until none of it was visible. He then picked up the body, walked over to April, and handed it to her.

Now April could no longer hold it in. She burst into tears, putting her head on Peter's shoulder to sob into it. "It's all my f…fault… I can't believe… I can't believe I…."

"Shhhh," Peter said soothingly. He put his arms around her. April stopped stuttering, but continued crying into Peter's shoulder.

While this was happening, Tom looked at Jude's bleeding back. "Whoa, are you okay?" Tom asked.

"It'll probably be fine," said Jude. "Just a scratch, right?" But Tom was already pulling out a first aid kit. It was a deep wound, and it was still bleeding. "It looks bad – we're going to have to take care of this now," said Tom. "But, um… you'll have to lift your shirt and stuff so that I can get to the wound."

Jude sighed. "Fine." Despite the extreme cold, he lifted up his coat and all of the layers beneath it until they covered only his head and neck. Charlie put his head against Jude's bare stomach to help keep him warm (which may have worked a little _too_ well.)

Tom got to work, cleaning up the wound and then applying disinfectant. "Your team did great out there, Tom," Jude said as his wound got treated. "You have some really strong Pokémon."

"Thanks," said Tom. "You too. I saw your team fight – they were awesome."

"Amazing," Samus whispered to herself, watching the two scenes unfold in front of her. "Only one fatality." She would never admit it to the trainers, but she had been expecting more.

However, when Tom finished treating Jude's wound, he looked around and became increasingly stressed. "…Manny?" He ran over to the edge of Spear Pillar where Kraid had once stood. Looking down, he did not see Manny, but he saw Kraid's body lying on the rock a considerable distance beneath him. The body was belly-down. "Manny!" Tom shouted, getting frantic.

"It's okay, calm down!" shouted Manny. Tom looked to his left to find his Machamp lifting himself back onto the stone surface. He was almost completely red.

"Manny!" Tom said with tremendous relief. He ran over to Manny. "Um, I'd hug you, but…."

"Yeah, I know," said Manny. "The blood."

"Hey, everyone!" said Samus. "You might want to pay attention to this."

Something was happening in the middle of Spear Pillar. Dialga, Palkia, and Lugia stood in a neat line; several yards away, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres stood in a parallel line. The lines faced each other; the gap between them formed a sort of path from the caves of Mt. Coronet outward. Then something shimmered in this gap. Gradually, a staircase came into being between the legendaries. It was semi-transparent and sparkled like a diamond, but was whitish and shined like a pearl. It led to someplace far above Spear Pillar. The legendary Pokémon next to it seemed to be bowing down to it.

"It… it looks like they want us to climb that staircase," said Tom.

"Come on, then," said Samus, and she started walking toward the staircase's base.

Tom withdrew Ralph, Charlie, and Umanda; Peter withdrew Jeffrey and Golem; April withdrew Meganium and Flareon; Jude withdrew Swampert, Gengar, Jolteon, and Skarmory. Peter was holding Pachirisu's wrapped-up corpse now – the burden had been too much for April to bear. Then the four trainers and one Machamp followed Samus. The six of them began climbing, even though their destination remained unknown. All they could see in front of them was the staircase, which stretched on and on, going far up into the sky.


	29. The Hall of Origin

Tom, Peter, April, Jude, Samus, and Manny reached the top of the staircase. There was a large, flat platform floating at the top, apparently suspended by nothing but the staircase itself. It seemed to be made of the same material as the staircase; it sparkled and shined in the same manner. Cautiously, the six of them walked across the platform. Their eyes were fixed on a creature on the other side.

The creature was facing them. It was a huge, white being with four long legs. Its neck was long as well, as was its head, which flowed back as if it were wearing a long, pointed hat. Around its abdomen was a large, golden wheel that looked like an "O" overlapping with an "X". The sight of this creature was quite intimidating; I felt Tom get tense as he approached.

The five humans, plus one Machamp, now stood in front of this… thing. It towered over all of them; even Samus only measured up to the top of its legs. The creature looked down on each of them. Then it spoke.

"Welcome, heroes, to the Hall of Origin. There is no need for you to introduce yourselves, for I have been watching from afar. My name is Arceus, and I am the overseer of this world. It is only due to your bravery that I am able to appear before you today. My gratitude is too great to be expressed in words. All that can be said is: thank you.

"You stand here today as saviors of all of Pocket. You have fought off the evil that seeped onto this planet, and today you struck the final blow, wiping this evil out. However, the malevolent force behind this evil had never planned to limit itself to this planet. While Pocket is now safe for the time being, the entire universe is still in terrible danger. For you to understand why this is so, I will need to tell you secrets that have been guarded for millennia. Listen well, for I am about to tell you the most important story you will ever hear. Listen well to the tale of Oscelon.

"It all began about three thousand years ago, according to the standard human calendar. Back then there lived an ancient race with incredible psychic powers. Using these powers, this race could understand the connections between all things which permeate the universe. By understanding enough of these connections, they were able to visualize the four-dimensional universe, allowing them to see through time itself. Now, it is important that you not mistakenly believe that they could see the future, for this is not possible. The future is never certain; it can take an infinite number of possible forms. It is more accurate to say that these Ancient Ones heard echoes from the future, and that the strength of these echoes indicated the probability of a future which produced them. One of these echoes was much stronger than almost any other. It came from a universe overcome by darkness. The echo gave these Ancient Ones visions of a dreadful, hopeless future. Clearly, something had to be done.

"The Ancient Ones searched far and wide for a cure to this approaching darkness. They found it on a planet named Earth, a world inhabited by a race that called itself humankind. At that time, humankind had created a whole new medium, one which they considered trivial then, but which the Ancient Ones observed with great interest. It was a form of electronic entertainment known as 'video games'. Humans were only beginning to uncover the potential of this new invention, but the Ancient Ones saw more potential in this medium than the humans ever would.

"Video games are special. As with other artistic mediums, they create sights and sounds that embed themselves in the observer's imagination, creating a world separate from reality, one existing only in the observers' collective minds. But video games go one step beyond this. The observer, or 'player', is an active participant in this created world. A control scheme links the player to a being or group of beings in the game, blurring the divide between the real universe and the invented one. This link between universes is important. To understand why, it is vital that you realize that a sentient being is more than the sum of its parts. There is an energy produced by all sentient beings that is something beyond both the matter this being is made up of and the energy necessary for its biological functions. This special energy is usually referred to, simply, as Life Energy. Perhaps it is what some humans refer to as a 'soul', although that is beyond my realm of knowledge. When a sentient being plays a video game, their Life Energy flows through the link between their universe and the created one, and the being uses a part of their Life Energy in the created world. To put it in more human terms, a tiny part of the being's soul is given to the universe within the game – a part whose size correlates with the amount of time spent playing the game. In this manner, video games develop a Life Energy of their own. The Life Energy within a game, however, is very different from that within a living being.

"The Ancient Ones understood this. And, in understanding this, they saw how to defeat the coming darkness. Were the universe to remain in its current state, the probability that the darkness would win was horrifyingly great. In order to reverse these odds, something had to be added to the universe that did not exist previously. The Ancient Ones decided to utilize the power of video games to achieve this. Their plan, simply put, was to take the Life Energy of certain video games and bring it into our universe. The creations from the video games would be the army that would fight off the darkness. But this plan would be very difficult to carry out.

"Firstly, the Ancient Ones had to influence the design of human video games to fit their needs. It was vital that enough of these games have the potential to help fight the darkness, should they be brought into our universe. But it was also vital that they be entertaining to humans so that enough humans would lend their Life Energy to these games. The Ancient Ones secretly manipulated the most successful human developers into designing their popular video games to be useful to the Ancient Ones' agenda. The degree of their influence varied between games. In some instances, the Ancient Ones used this opportunity to solve unrelated yet important other problems as well. For example, two of these problems were ultimately solved by you, Samus Aran. Both Phazon and the X Parasites existed long before video games did. The Ancient Ones, with their psychic powers, made human developers put these problems into the Metroid series in order to be rid of both threats once those games came to life.

"Secondly, the Ancient Ones had to bring these games into our universe. For this purpose, they created Oscelon. This creation process was more complicated than any of you could ever comprehend. It took nearly one thousand years. Entire stellar systems were used for material. The end result was a living being large enough to house thousands of stellar systems. Such a being would be extremely difficult to control. The Ancient Ones therefore made a tremendous sacrifice. They integrated their entire race into a single psychic force. This force was integrated into Oscelon itself. The Ancient Ones remain in a dormant state to this day; their home planet functions as Oscelon's brain.

"Oscelon could, perhaps, be considered the ultimate gaming console. When video games are inserted into a normal console, they appear on an electronic interface. When video games are inserted into Oscelon, they appear in our own reality. Remember, the Ancient Ones were gifted in the ability to understand the complex connections uniting all things. This knowledge was applied to the creation of Oscelon, who became a part of many of these connections. Because of this, Oscelon's power to manipulate our universe is vast.

"When Oscelon consumes an object, one of three processes is initiated. One of these, the most basic digestive tract, is very similar to the digestive processes found in all living beings. Oscelon requires a tremendous amount of energy to remain functional. It must eat entire stars on a regular basis. The stars and planets it digests in this way not only provide Oscelon with energy, but also enable its productive capabilities – that is, they are often used as material for its creations.

"A second digestive tract is devoted entirely to the consumption of video game cartridges. The specific cartridge Oscelon consumes is not important. The concept of a game exists in each of its cartridges, along with that game's Life Energy. When Oscelon eats a cartridge, the game's Life Energy is manipulated in a process so complex and mysterious that even I do not fully comprehend it. Somehow, this Life Energy changes form, and is then transferred to the rest of the universe through Oscelon's vast system of connections. Over time, the universe changes to become more suitable to the games Oscelon has consumed. Eventually, the events in the games occur in our reality.

"Thirdly, a planet or star that enters Oscelon might remain there indefinitely. Although Oscelon is as large as a cluster of stars, it is mostly empty space on the inside. This empty space contains many planets and stars which Oscelon has eaten, but has chosen to keep intact. This decision is not arbitrary, for everything in this part of Oscelon is used to help it achieve its purpose. The stars and planets are integrated into Oscelon's biology; they become a part of it. They are then used as raw materials, should Oscelon need them. For Oscelon cannot shape the universe to its needs using its manipulative powers alone. Some video games are so unrealistic, so incapable of integrating into the universe as it exists, that Oscelon must create the conditions for them in a more direct manner. You are familiar with the most prominent example of this: Pokémon.

"Yes, the creatures known as Pokémon, designed by humans, could not evolve naturally within the time period Oscelon was allotted. Oscelon had to create them manually instead. The many beings living inside of Oscelon were used as biological blueprints; they are the predecessors to the beings who live on Pocket today.

"There was once a planet named Psy, a planet whose inhabitants possessed psychic powers that rivaled even those of the Ancient Ones. When Oscelon had just completed its growth, Psy was in dire turmoil. A Leviathan Seed from the planet Phaaze had hit the planet. Much like Aether – the planet that you, Samus, saved – the Seed split the planet into two unstable dimensions, one of light and one of darkness. The evil beings from the dark world waged war on those from the light. But even among the light-dwellers, the Phazon incited evil. Many of Psy's inhabitants were mutated into a vicious new species. The entire planet was dying.

"Oscelon sought to correct this. It consumed the planet Psy – and, in doing so, accomplished two things at once. With the planet completely under its control, Oscelon was able to destroy the Phazon plaguing the planet and neutralize all the evil-doers inhabiting it. But Oscelon was not merely doing this planet a favor. It had determined that the inhabitants of Psy were perfect for the creation of psychic Pokémon. Oscelon has near-total control over everything inside it; it used this control to change the inhabitants of Psy in a very short period of time. They became the very first species of Pokémon: Mew. Mew became the prototypical Pokémon, and aspects of all Pokémon created afterward would be borrowed from it. Oscelon later consumed many other inhabited planets. A different planet was used to create each Pokémon 'type'. Eventually, Oscelon was confident enough in its own powers to use the evil inhabitants of the dark world attached to Psy in the creation of a new Pokémon type. These darkness dwellers became dark-type Pokémon, and Oscelon was sure to keep their evil nature suppressed.

"Pokémon are, by far, closer to Oscelon than any other being. Oscelon has had a role in the creation of others, but none are nearly as connected to and reliant on it. Oscelon has the power to create wormholes through space easily and instantly. In order to resemble the creatures designed in the games, Pokémon were given the ability to activate such wormholes for several purposes, connecting them directly to Oscelon. For example, should a water-type Pokémon use a certain move, a wormhole would briefly connect it to the water-type planet within Oscelon. Water would then be transported through this wormhole from the planet to the Pokémon, who would use this water in the attack. Furthermore, Pokémon do not breed as directly as other species. When two Pokémon mate, their biological data is sent to Oscelon, who automatically processes and combines it to create a new Pokémon. Oscelon then uses a wormhole to send an egg to the parents. Additionally, Pokémon briefly re-enter Oscelon when they evolve; Oscelon alters the evolving Pokémon's structure and then quickly sends it back to Pocket.

"Oscelon spent many centuries creating and perfecting Pokémon. During this time, a group of Chozo discovered it. These Chozo, while searching the heavens, detected a body much larger than anything they knew of. Chozo, you must understand, were not created by video game designers. They are one of many beings who existed long before video games, yet whom the Ancient Ones planted the idea of in certain humans' minds as part of their plan. Whether Oscelon had planned to be discovered by this band of Chozo, even I do not know. Whatever the case, Oscelon decided they could be put to good use. When the Chozo traveled to Oscelon, it welcomed them and allowed them to live on a part of its outer skin. A deal was struck between these Chozo and Oscelon. The Chozo were looking for a way to contain a worrisome threat to the universe: the X-Parasite, native to the planet SR-388. It was Oscelon who created the solution to this problem: Metroids. As Oscelon was still creating Pokémon at the time, Metroids were created using more or less the same process; for all intents and purposes, they are simply another Pokémon 'type'. The Metroids were sent to SR-388 to keep the X-Parasites contained, as the Chozo had planned. Oscelon told them much, but also kept many secrets from them. The did not know of the role the Metroids had in the video game series named after them.

"In exchange, the Chozo vowed to help Oscelon. This vow was fulfilled once Oscelon created a planet for Pokémon to live on – the planet we now know as Pocket. When Pokémon were sent to live here, the Chozo came as well to guide their progress. Their most significant contribution, perhaps, was the creation of the Pokéball. The Chozo tribe remained on Pocket for several years. But an internal skirmish divided them, and, eventually, led to the end of their stay on Pocket. Nonetheless, they helped create the conditions for the Pokémon video games to be brought into reality once humans colonized Pocket.

"Now our story skips forward about one millennium. In more recent times, a criminal group calling themselves Team Rocket was wreaking havoc in certain regions on Pocket. This group was led by an evil man named Giovanni. To increase his power, Giovanni sought to create the ultimate Pokémon. He paid a team of scientists to attempt this on his behalf. These scientists saw that there was something unusual about Mew. It contained the DNA of almost every known Pokémon, despite being a pure psychic-type, yet also lacked features that set other psychic-type Pokémon apart. It was at once both the archetypical Pokémon and the purest, most distilled psychic-type Pokémon. The scientists saw Mew's power as a near-blank slate which they could add to exponentially by tinkering with its DNA. However, when they successfully mutated Mew into its most powerful theoretically possible form, they awakened an evil that had been dormant for millennia. The mutation they exploited was the very same mutation that the Phazon, when it plagued the planet Psy, had triggered in the Psionians. Oscelon had changed these evil Psionians into Mew, but Giovanni's scientists had re-traced this transformation and undid it. Thus, Mewtwo was born. Mewtwo immediately proved to be too powerful for the scientists to contain. He destroyed the lab, killed most of the scientists, and escaped. Mewtwo then hid in Cerulean Cave, where he spent several years in meditation and training.

"None of this was unexpected. Mewtwo was in the Pokémon series of video games, so Oscelon knew that he would come into being. Unfortunately, neither the Ancient Ones nor Oscelon ever predicted any of the events that followed.

"A single Leviathan Seed had somehow survived the destruction of Phaaze. It had been floating in space, dormant, for centuries. In a stroke of extraordinarily bad luck, the Seed passed extremely close to the Pokésystem, Pocket's own stellar system. Many psychic Pokémon detected its presence. But none detected it stronger than Mewtwo. Although he did not possess any Phazon of his own, Mewtwo's entire genetic structure was the result of Phazon mutation. This gave him a special connection to the Seed shared by no other being on Pocket. He felt the Seed come close to his stellar system, and the Seed likely felt his presence as well. Mewtwo had no way of reaching this Seed, but he could use this psychic connection to his advantage. And so he developed a plan. Through this connection, Mewtwo imprinted some of his psychic energy onto the Seed before it drifted out of his range again.

"Next, Mewtwo captured himself in a Pokéball. This transported him to Psy, the psychic-type planet within Oscelon. Whether or not he was aware of his exact location and its significance, I do not know. But somehow, he traversed Oscelon's insides until he reached the surface of Oscelon. Then he called out to the Leviathan Seed with his mind. The imprint he had left on it earlier not only strengthened his connection to the Seed, it also gave him a tiny degree of control over it. The Leviathan Seed now responded to Mewtwo's psychic beacon by creating a wormhole. The wormhole brought it to Mewtwo's location on Oscelon. Then, on Mewtwo's beckoning, the Seed made impact with Oscelon.

"Those of you not familiar with Phazon may not realize how devastating this development was. Phazon comes from the planet Phaaze, which grew Leviathan Seeds within its core and then shot them into space. These Leviathan Seeds had the ability to create wormholes, and they used this ability to travel quickly to planets and then impact them to corrupt them with Phazon. Phazon corruption affects all aspects of the corrupted planet. The radioactive, semi-biological substance known as Phazon integrates into everything, including all native life forms, who are driven mad by the substance and are transformed into shadows of their former selves. The abominable substance may have overtaken the universe had you, Samus Aran, not destroyed its home planet.

"Usually, it would take only a few months for a planet to be completely corrupted with Phazon. Oscelon is far larger than any planet and would take many years to fully corrupt. Unfortunately, the largest and fastest wave of corruption took place right after the Leviathan Seed hit. As Phazon spread on Oscelon, Mewtwo absorbed the core of the Phazon Seed, essentially becoming one with it. Most creatures would have either died or been driven mad by such an enormous amount of Phazon. Mewtwo, however, has genetic origins in a species already made evil by Phazon; besides this, his tremendous psychic powers and his prior connection to the Leviathan Seed kept him alive and sane. After merging with the Seed, Mewtwo gained control over the spread of Phazon. He directed the majority of this spread towards Oscelon's brain in order to accelerate the corruption.

"During the following months, the Phazon in Oscelon's brain drove it mad. It began acting erratically and even maliciously. Oscelon did many strange, inexplicable things in its madness. It shot a vessel to the planet Ludus to guard the last surviving copies of many video games it has brought to life. It ceased suppressing the evil origins of dark-type Pokémon, allowing new ones to be born with evil and aggressive natures. It swallowed a human patrol ship whole and digested it. The humans inside were ground up and killed; this is the first instance of Oscelon committing murder against any species. Rather than converting the ship to energy, Oscelon sent it to a section within this most basic digestive tract that it uses to process raw materials. Upon processing human bodies, Oscelon could do something it was never capable of before: create a human being. Although several Pokémon such as Jynx and Machoke are somewhat humanlike, Oscelon had not been able to create a being that could think or act anything like a human. Now that madness stifled any ability to control its impulses, Oscelon sought to test this new ability. A Machop was given an extremely humanlike brain. You, noble sir known only as 'Manny', were born as a result.

"However, this madness and impulsiveness was not the only consequence of Phazon poisoning Oscelon's brain. Because Mewtwo had merged with this Phazon's source, he gained a small amount of control over Oscelon's actions. This was all part of his plan. But the next part of his plan required help. So Mewtwo sought out the one group he knew would submit to a sufficiently powerful leader. He sought out the Space Pirates. They were not difficult to convince; indeed, this was not the first time the Space Pirates submitted to a strong outsider, and it will not be the last. They know how weak they are without a leader. The Space Pirates were sent to Pocket, where they arrived not even one month ago.

"While Mewtwo still had some control over Oscelon, he used it for several things. Oscelon had the biological materials necessary to rebuild a number of fallen Space Pirate leaders. Mewtwo made sure they came into being. However, both they and Mewtwo were still stuck in Oscelon. Pocket was far away, and protected heavily by the Galactic Federation. But that is why he made a legion of Space Pirates sneak in. Once they were on Pocket's surface, these Pirates sought and found Mewtwo's Pokéball inside Cerulean Cave. They opened the Pokéball and brought Mewtwo back to Pocket. However, Mewtwo was not the only one who used this means of travel. Normally, a Pokéball is designed to send only a Pokémon to and from its chamber inside Oscelon. But there is an exception which, if the Pokéball were tampered with, could be exploited. A Pokéball is designed to transport a Pokémon along with whatever item that Pokémon is holding. Typically, the item will only be considered a part of the Pokémon if it is attached to a specialized hold-item necklace, or some other related device. Mewtwo used this fact to exploit a loophole. He had the technology within his Pokéball changed so that it accepted almost anything Mewtwo touched with a hold-item necklace as a hold-item. Even beings weighing innumerable tons could be transported using this method. Thus, Mewtwo brought the Space Pirate leaders he had helped to rebuild from Oscelon to Pocket. Other Space Pirates could use this mode of transportation, too, to easily get to Pocket while eluding the Galactic Federation's detection. Mewtwo used this method to bring something else to Pocket as well: Metroids. Mewtwo brought a Queen Metroid, as well as a number of larval ones, from their home in Oscelon to Pocket.

"Mewtwo's plan, simply put, was to take absolute control of Oscelon. The control his Phazon connection gave him over it was both weak and temporary. Recently, it has disappeared altogether. Part of Oscelon's brain remained rational, and it was horrified by what was happening. After a long and hard struggle, it finally managed to do what had to be done: it managed to put Oscelon into an indefinite slumber, or a state of hibernation. For the moment, both its madness and Mewtwo's weak control are no longer in effect. However, even before this happened, Mewtwo undoubtedly knew it was inevitable. His plans were far grander than the minute influence over Oscelon he possessed.

"Mewtwo and his Space Pirates designed, and created, a machine that would grant Mewtwo this control he sought. You know of this machine, for it was integrated with the mountain you have just climbed. It required two things to complete the task it was made for. Firstly, the three legendary Pokémon with the most powerful connection to Oscelon had to be detained. I refer a trio which I created: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. You see, when Oscelon created Pocket, he created me along with it. I was given almost limitless access to Oscelon's power. I delegated this power to three beings: power over space was delegated to Palkia, power over time to Dialga, and power over other dimensions to Giratina. Furthermore, I delegated my mental capacities to another trio of Pokémon: Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, who then hid within the three lakes of Sinnoh. Were one to take a certain red crystal from each of these three lake-dwellers, they would have some control over my knowledge, emotions, and willpower. This control could be used to summon Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, and to confine at least one of them. Several years ago, a man tried to do this in an effort to recreate the universe according to his vision. He failed, of course. But Mewtwo's method went above and beyond what that man did. Once Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina were summoned and confined, the machine trapped them even further. Using brute force powered by huge quantities of Life Energy, the machine not only trapped them, but also integrated itself with their power. Once all preparations were made, the machine would transfer these Pokémons' godlike powers to Mewtwo. However, even that would not grant Mewtwo full control of Oscelon.

"As I stated, this machine contained enormous quantities of Life Energy. But this Life Energy was not just there to power the machine or confine Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Remember, Oscelon has an entire digestive tract devoted to processing Life Energy. This tract is typically used to take the Life Energy within video games and convert them into real life events. It reacts to stimuli automatically; in other words, it is an involuntary system. Mewtwo saw a use for it. His plan was to take control of a gigantic amount of Life Energy, then to send this Life Energy to this specific part of Oscelon. Because Mewtwo had control of the Life Energy, he could manipulate Oscelon's reaction to it. He would use this to force Oscelon to give him more of its power. He would then use this increased power to take more of Oscelon's power, and so on, until Oscelon's power becomes synonymous with Mewtwo's.

"Yes, I am simplifying a complex process. But Mewtwo's plan was solid. Using a mix of Phazon, the dimension-altering legendary Pokémon, and gigantic amounts of Life Energy, he would be able to continue increasing his control of Oscelon until it was absolute. Surely, this would have been catastrophic. Mewtwo is a born disruptor. A universe where he has Oscelon's power would undoubtedly be full of chaos, for that is his preferred environment. He instinctively pits himself against all living beings. In Mewtwo's ideal universe, Mewtwo is immortal, and his challengers are eternal – but he is always victorious.

"Mewtwo and his loyal Space Pirate followers came dangerously close to fulfilling this plan. Certainly, they did all they could to gather Life Energy while on Pocket. Legendary Pokémon all across Japano were sucked of their Life Energy by Metroids, who then transferred this energy to the machine within Mt. Coronet. The three legendary Pokémon to whom I relegated my power over dimensions were detained. Mewtwo and the Space Pirates were met with fear everywhere they went on Pocket.

"Thankfully, you did not allow them to succeed. First, you eliminated their opportunity to drain Life Energy from two legendary Pokémon, obstructing their plans. To get beyond this, Mewtwo decided to substitute Life Energy with increased quantities of Phazon. He went back to Oscelon to re-enter the Leviathan Seed. Fortunately, you stole his Pokéball while he was away and destroyed it, eliminating the secret passage between Oscelon and Pocket. And, today, you struck the final blow by destroying their devious machine and eliminating every Space Pirate on the globe. Pocket has you to thank for its safety – as do I, even more so. For when you freed the legendary trio atop Spear Pillar, you restored my own power as well. As I said before, my gratitude cannot be adequately expressed.

"Unfortunately, all is not yet won. If it were, I would have no reason to tell you all of this. Our victory today was noteworthy, but ultimately, only temporary. The biggest threat of all still awaits us. Unless action is taken soon, our entire universe could be in peril.

"Mewtwo is still alive. He is probably inside the Leviathan Seed, plotting his next move. Left alone, he will probably try to conquer Oscelon again. However, even if he does not, our situation remains bleak. Phazon still spreads across Oscelon, gradually corrupting it. Oscelon's current dormancy will not last forever. If Phazon continues to spread for long enough, the rational part of its brain remaining will give in to madness as well. An Oscelon overcome with Phazon would not be merely impulsive, as it was before. We cannot even know how much damage an aggressive, out-of-control Oscelon might cause. It could conceivably destroy all life in our universe.

"Heroes, this is my plea to you. Do not forget how much danger we are still in. Tell it to those who need to be told, or to anyone who may be able to help. The Leviathan Seed must be destroyed, and it must be done as soon as possible. I am not so hasty as to place this burden solely on your backs, but I at least entrust you as the carriers of this information. Please, use it wisely."

Nobody turned to look at the four legendary birds flying over to them; their full attention remained directed at Arceus. I can only imagine what was going on in their heads. Hell, even I was pretty stunned by what I was hearing – and trust me, it's not easy to elicit that reaction from me.

"I have told you all that I have to tell," said Arceus. "Now we must part ways. I am sure you do not desire to climb the entire height of Mt. Coronet once more. Therefore, I have asked these four Pokémon to help you. They are willing to fly you down to the ground below Mt. Coronet. I bid you farewell, heroes, and I wish good luck upon you."


	30. Eastern Sinnoh

Jude rode on Zapdos's back, Peter on Articuno's, and April on Moltres's. Lugia chose to allow the boy who had called it to ride on its back. There was room for two on the enormous legendary bird's back, however, so Samus had gotten on behind Tom. Tom had to withdraw Manny, though.

The four birds flew in circles, spiraling lower and lower. They flew through the cloud from which the snow fell. I could feel Tom shivering fiercely, despite his heavy clothing. They made it beneath the cloud and continued spiraling lower. April was having the most trouble of the five – she had to be very careful not to burn herself on Moltres's large flames.

After many long minutes, they finally made it to the ground. Specifically, the ground of Route 208, which is right on the eastern edge of Mt. Coronet. The four birds landed on the rocky hillside. There was nobody else present – which was probably a reason why they chose to land here. The five humans jumped off of the birds and onto the hillside. Lugia thanked them once again for what they'd done; Samus thanked the birds for coming to help, as well as flying them off of the mountain. Finally, the four legendary birds flew away.

Samus, Tom, Peter, April, and Jude absentmindedly watched the birds leave. Samus was apparently the first one to regain her focus; she pressed a sequence of buttons on her Arm Cannon to call her gunship over. "My ship's coming to get me soon," she said, waking the other four from their trance. "Let's walk down the hill. I need it to land on flat ground."

The teenagers followed Samus down the hill. The steep hill itself was made of grayish rock, but the flat land below them was green with fields and trees. It was no longer freezing cold, so they took the opportunity to remove their heavy coats.

"Samus…" Tom started. "…Those things Arceus said… about Oscelon, and video games, and all that stuff… do you think that it was all true?"

"Yes," Samus answered. "I have reasons to believe it was. I don't doubt that everything Arceus told us is the truth."

Nothing else was said as they walked down the hill. They reached the grassy hill bottom with perfect timing, for that was when Samus's gunship arrived. It fell from the sky before slowing to a stop in front of them. After its wings bent down to rest the ship on the ground, a lift dropped down and hit the ground as well. Samus turned to face the four teenagers. She took off her helmet. "This might be our last goodbye," she told them. "Now that the planet's free of Space Pirates, I don't have much reason to stay here – and even if I did, I doubt I would cross paths with you. Truth be told, I never expected to cross paths with anyone like you in the first place. In the past, I've completed almost all of my missions alone. I suppose I was expecting the same here on Pocket. But no… this was a different kind of mission entirely. And in the end, I'm glad I wasn't alone. Watching so many Pocketians rise up and face their aggressors head-on is one of the most inspirational things I've ever seen. And you four were constantly at the forefront of that uprising.

"You're all so young… in a way, it pains me that of all people, you had to be the ones to go through this. You've been through worse horrors now than almost anyone has to ever experience. I'm sorry that had to happen. And April… I'm sorry for your loss." April dared to glance at Pachirisu's wrapped-up corpse in Peter's arms. "But you all handled it with so much more courage and maturity than I could have ever imagined. Maybe age really doesn't matter here on Pocket. But whether that's true or not, you're all exceptional human beings. It was a pleasure working with you.

"I suppose that with the Pirates gone, we've finally separated my world from yours. But along the way, I had to spend some time in your world, and you had to spend some time in mine. Even though I would never wish my miserable world on anyone… I at least hope you've learned as much from it as I have from yours. The two worlds may operate on two different set of rules, but they're rules from the same book. The more worlds we visit, the more we understand that book. I know I won't ever forget my time on Pocket, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect the same is true for you. You should be proud of all the hardships you've faced – and realize that they've grown you into stronger people.

"Anyways, enough rambling. I'll inform everyone who needs to know about what Arceus told us, so you don't have to worry about that. Your involvement really is over now, and you're free to live your own lives. Thank you for your help, and good luck."

They said their final goodbyes. Then Samus got on the lift below her ship, and the lift rose her up inside. A few seconds later, the gunship had flown away.

Jude released his Skarmory. He got on her back. "I guess I'll be leaving now too," he said.

"Where to?" asked Tom.

"Back to Kanto," Jude answered. "I've got all my badges, plus the Pirates are gone, so no point hanging around here. So…." He looked like he had something to say, but he seemed to be at a loss for words. "…See you later." Then Skarmory took off.

That left just the three of them. Tom released Manny, making it four. "Um, guys," Peter started, drawing attention to him. "…We need to bury Pachirisu. I think we might as well do it here, right now. It's not like we'll find a better place anytime soon."

April agreed. Peter brought Golem out to dig a grave. Meanwhile, Manny went back to the hillside to grab a large boulder, which he carried back down to the site of the grave. Once Golem had buried Pachirisu's body, Manny put the boulder on the spot. Weavile then used Metal Claw to carve into the boulder. Under April's direction, she managed to carve three letters: RIP. It wasn't much of a grave, but it was the best they could do with what they had. All seventeen Pokémon were released to mourn their loss (the fainted ones having been fed Revives).

"Do you want to say something in her memory?" Peter asked April.

"Um… sure," said April. She stared at the boulder in front of her. "Um… well… I got Pachirisu six years ago. She was a birthday gift from my friend Misty… the best gift I've ever been given. She was really small back then, but in most ways she was the same as always. I fell in love with her right away… and she returned the feeling. Over the next few years, a lot the time I'd feel lonely or depressed, but Pachirisu was always there to cheer me up no matter what. She hated it when I was sad. She was the one thing I could always rely on… she was like my b…best friend…." The tears were starting back up. "I…" April attempted to start again, but her own sobs cut her off.

Peter tapped her arm reassuringly. "Let me finish for you," he said. April – her head in her hands – merely nodded.

"I knew Pachirisu about as long as April did, though not as well. I didn't care for her much – back then, I was too self-centered to really care much about anyone who wasn't me. I remember one time I decided to take her deep into the Ilex Forest and leave her there on her own. I guess I thought it would be funny to watch April freak out about her lost pet. I didn't even consider what a horrible thing I was doing – the forest was full of dangerous wild Pokémon that could have seriously hurt her. But I have a point here. While I was doing this evil, terrible thing, Pachirisu wanted to play with me the whole time. She completely trusted me, and she followed me into the forest willingly. I, who planned only to deceive her. And in the days and years after that incident, she never showed any hint of a grudge against me. She _still_ trusted me and _still _just wanted to play. And no matter how much I made Golem – back then she was Geodude – torment her, Pachirisu always just wanted to play with her, too. I think Geodude even gave in after a while. Pachirisu was a Pokémon incapable of hatred, one who saw only the good in all of us. Her unending joy and trust was contagious. When she died, Pocket lost one of its greatest inhabitants. But the happiness and optimism she gave us will continue to touch our hearts forever."

April looked at Peter incredulously. "Peter," she said, "that's… that's the most beautiful thing I have ever heard you say."

Peter shrugged. "I can be eloquent when I want to be," he said. "It's usually just too much work."

Once the funeral was over, it was time to get going. The nearest city – Hearthome City – was very close. Tom, Peter, April, and Manny walked west over the route's grassy fields.

* * *

When the group entered Hearthome City, their melancholy mood was met with quite a stark counterpoint. Never in our journey had we been to a louder, livelier place. Fireworks went off in the air all over the city. The streets were packed with crowds – the people in them were cheering, marching, chanting, and in some cases even playing instruments (but the place was so loud that the instruments were barely audible). The entire city was out to celebrate Pocket's victory over the Space Pirates.

I could feel Tom's bloodstream liven up a little bit. "You know, guys…" he began, but he stopped when he realized that nobody could hear him over the racket. The three teenagers and one Machamp squeezed their way through the thick crowds, slowly making their way toward the Pokémon Center. Manny led the way, since the crowds almost automatically parted for him; despite being only about five feet tall, he was by far the biggest of the group (and far bigger than most people) in terms of total mass.

Eventually, they reached Hearthome's Pokémon Center. But once we all got inside, we realized that there was nearly as much excitement in there as out on the streets. Most of the tables were occupied – unusual for any Pokémon Center – and the people there were alternating between celebrating and watching the news on the T.V., which of course was all about the victory against the Space Pirates. The three teenagers finally got their Pokémon healed at the machine, and then got themselves some lunch and found a table to sit down at. In contrast to the attentive and excited crowd gathered around them, they were all slouching in their chairs and looking half-awake.

"You know," said Tom, "maybe we shouldn't be so gloomy right now. We _did_ just save the world."

Peter nodded. "True," he said. "It's just that… I'm so… tired."

"Yeah, me too," said Tom. "But… for some reason, I don't think I could take a nap now, even if I tried."

"Shit no," said Peter. "I dunno if I'll ever be able to sleep again." He leaned into the table, as if to make sure that nobody not seated there heard him. "I still smell all the blood," he half-whispered. "It's gone now, but the smell is still in my nose. I have this bad feeling like that's _all_ I'm gonna smell forever now."

Tom nodded somberly. "And then there's all that stuff Arceus said," Tom said. "Yeah, my mind's way too stirred up for sleep right now."

Out of the throngs of celebrators, a bald old man approached our table. "What're you young'ins lookin' so miserable for?" he asked. "You heard the news, right? The Space Pirates are gone forever! You oughta be celebratin' with the rest of us!"

"Yeah, we've heard," said April. "Have you heard any details?"

"Only what I've seen on the news," said the man. "Course, there were the two big battles you prob'ly heard about, the one in Veilstone and the one somewhere in Hoenn. But now they're sayin' that there was another big battle at the top of Mt. Coronet. They're sayin' that Samus Aran herself fought there. I also hear that she got some teenage Pokémon trainers to fight with her, but they ain't sayin' who. Teenagers, though! Imagine, 'stead of lazin' around here, there's people just as old as you out there fightin' to save the world! Don't that make you feel even the least bit unproductive?"

Manny put two hands over his mouth to cover it up. "I don't think they're the unproductive ones here, baldy," he said.

The old man looked around. "Who said that?" he asked.

"Said what?" asked Peter. "I didn't hear anything."

"Yeah," said Tom, "neither did I."

The man turned his head left and right. "Ah well," he said. "Anyway, someday you kids'll be old enough to realize what an important day this is, and then you'll be sorry you missed out on it." He walked away.

The four of them then stopped holding in their laughter. Once the giggling ended, April spoke. "So they haven't released our identities," she said. "That's interesting."

"Yeah," Tom and Peter agreed. Apparently that was about the only comment on that they had the energy for.

About a minute of silence followed. The four of them looked down at their food, which they had barely touched. I could feel Tom's lack of hunger, and it was easy to deduce that the others felt the same.

"So, uh, now what?" asked Tom, breaking the silence. "If we're not going to stay here and rest, then… should we go?"

"You could always stay here and celebrate with everyone else," said April. Her use of the second person in that statement did not go unnoticed.

"It's okay, April," said Peter. "I know you're not up for it, and really, neither am I. It's too loud here. I sorta want some peace and quiet now."

Tom was looking at my screen. "It'll be quieter on Route 212," he said. "And maybe a walk will make our minds... calmer. So… should we get going?"

* * *

Getting out of the city was about as big an ordeal as getting in. The celebrations were certainly not showing any signs of slowing down. Thus, the trainers once again had to squeeze their way through them, putting Manny in front to help part the crowds.

Eventually, they stepped off of the paved walkways of Hearthome City and onto the grass. They were now on Route 212, just south of Hearthome. It was an extremely lush route; there was nothing but trees, fields, and ponds within sight. This, along with the clear blue sky and the moderately cool temperature, gave the kids the peaceful environment they had sought. The celebrations in Hearthome could still be heard even from here, but as they slowly walked away from the city, it got quieter.

It was hard for me to read Tom's emotions at that point. It was as if a large spectrum of contradictory feelings were battling for dominance within him. He was sad yet happy, calm yet alert, relieved yet upset. It was no stretch to assume that the same was true with the other two trainers, and probably Manny as well. In April, though, one emotion apparently won out.

Without any warning, April suddenly dropped to her knees and began sobbing. The others stopped to let her get it out of her system. After a few moments, April finally stood back up and wiped off her face. "I'm sorry," she said. "You guys should be happier about this. About what we did. I'm… not making it easy for you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Peter. "It's a weird moment for all of us right now."

They began walking again. No other Pokémon were released – Manny was plenty enough to scare the relatively weak wild Pokémon away. Nobody questioned where they were going, or why. In fact, for a long while, nobody talked at all. They had seen and heard too much that morning; they were content letting their eyes and ears rest for now. As they walked, they took in the scenery. To their right there was a forest that stretched on as far as they could see. To their left was the brick wall of an extremely large estate; the top of a mansion poked into their view behind one stretch of it. They walked over lush fields inhabited by a wide variety of plant life. There were several small ponds that they had to walk around. The wall surrounding the huge estate followed them that whole time. Then, finally, they got to the end of it, and the wall was behind them.

At this point, April suddenly dropped to her knees and began crying again. This time, it didn't last as long. Peter outstretched his arm to help her up. When she was able to contain herself again, April grabbed his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. No words were exchanged. They began walking again. April did not let go of Peter's hand as they walked.

Soon, the forests to their left and right got closer together until they nearly combined. They then had to walk through an area that was half-woodland, half-marsh. A Budew and a Starly tried to make trouble, but Manny had only to wave his fists for them to realize that they were out of their league and back away. In this area, their path through the trees gradually turned until they were walking east rather than south. Their shoes and socks got soaked by the spongy ground, but I don't think anyone cared.

Their walk was slow, and it was a very long route. So they'd been walking for several consecutive hours when the trees around them finally cleared up a little. April had a couple more little outbursts after the first two, but they all followed the same pattern. Now they found themselves on a peninsula; across a small inlet from a river, they saw the forest they'd just been walking through. Short rocky cliffs now surrounded them. Tom's legs were finally reaching their limits. "Guys… we should sit down for a little while," he said. "We've been walking for a long time."

The others agreed. The four of them sat down on the muddy ground with their backs against a cliff. Everything around them was either green or blue – the wide river surrounding them and the sky being blue, and the grass, trees, and moss on the rocks being green. For a moment, they took some deep breaths and absorbed the scenery.

Then April had another sudden outburst. But this one was even worse than before. "Dammit!" she yelled, pounding the cliff with one hand while sobbing into the other. "It's all my fault! _Dammit!_"

Tom, Peter, and Manny gave her worried looks. "What?" Peter asked flatly. "How the hell do you figure it's your fault?"

April answered between sobs. "She was… my pet. So… even though Pachirisu aren't a very strong species… I wanted to take her with me when I became a trainer. She was more than willing to… to fight for me… even when things got really dangerous. I was so close to her, I… I knew how much danger I was putting her in… but I didn't want to let her go. I should never have put her in so much danger… she was just a pet… she could be… safe at home right now… but I…." Her crying got too intense to allow her to speak.

"Bullshit!" said Manny.

Tom looked surprised; Manny almost never cussed. April looked up at him curiously. Manny then explained himself.

"Okay, I can think of at least two big things wrong with that. First of all, I hate that whole 'what could have been' speculation when you don't really have any idea! So you think everything would have been better off if you'd used some other Pokémon instead of Pachirisu? And how do you know that? Let me tell you something you might not know. Back when Ralph had just been caught, he wasn't the strong, well-trained Pokémon he is today. In fact, he felt lonely and out of place. He was totally unmotivated and didn't understand the point of training. Then he met Pachirisu. Sure, you probably know how well they hit it off. But I've talked with Ralph, and you have no idea how much she changed him. She told him about how great it was to be given a purpose in life, to have something to work for. She _loved_ training, and her love of it rubbed off on him. Thanks to her, Ralph realized that he should be making the most of his new life, and Pachirisu helped him learn how.

"So what would have happened if Pachirisu had never come with you? Who knows? Ralph may never have become as strong as he is now, and maybe _he_ would have died. Or maybe we would have lost on Mt. Coronet, and we _all_ would have died. And how do you know that whatever Pokémon you replaced her with would have been stronger? It might not have been, and maybe _it_ would have died, and then you'd find some reason why that was all you fault, too. The point is, you can't know, April! There are literally infinite possibilities! Focus on what actually happened, not what might have happened!

"And what actually happened is, Pachirisu died fighting bravely to defend her master and her friends. That's the second thing that bugs me – the idea that it was all _your_ fault Pachirisu did this, and that if left on her own, she would prefer to be alive at your house right now than to have died in the battle that saved Pocket. C'mon, April, you know how much she loved training. You know how much she wanted to help you. What makes you think she'd have been happy if you'd left her back home while her owner went out on a journey without her? And what makes you think that she wouldn't chose, without any prompting from you, to fight on Spear Pillar even if she knew what would happen to her? She had a lot of fighting spirit in her. I think she was totally willing to die for her master and for all of her friends on Pocket. Don't think of her death as some injustice you caused – think of it as a brave fighter who willingly fought and died for what she loved. That's probably a lot more accurate."

April took a moment to wipe her face on her sleeves. Then she walked over to where Manny was sitting, crouched back down, and hugged him. "Thank you," she said. Manny looked a bit uneasy at first, but then he used two of his arms to hug her as lightly as he could (which still probably wasn't lightly enough).

April and Manny let go of each other. "I feel kind of silly now, to be honest," said April.

"I'd rather you feel silly than see you cry so much," said Manny. "Just stop being so down on yourself, 'kay?"

April nodded. She sat back down and leaned against the rock again. Her breathing was steadier now, and she was even smiling slightly. Her improved mood seemed to spread to the others. "You know, we're actually pretty awesome," said Peter. "I mean, we just saved the world. I'm having a hard time accepting that for some reason, but we did! Just wait till our families hear about _that_."

Tom slapped his forehead. "I'd totally forgotten!" he said. "Ugh, I'm going to have to tell my mom about this, aren't I?"

"I dunno," said April. "That old guy in Hearthome said that they hadn't released our identities. Maybe we're supposed to keep this a secret?"

"Oh, who cares?" Peter replied. "There's no way we'd be able to hide something like this from our folks. Not that I'd try, even if they tell me to."

April lightly giggled. "It _will_ be nice to finally be able to one-up June for once."

They relaxed in silence for a few moments. Tom looked east, where they would soon be traveling. There, a wide river separated us from the rest of the route; a wooden bridge provided a walking path across the river. On the other side, they would still have to cross a swamp before they got to Pastoria City. "We still have a way to go," said Tom. "But honestly, I'm not sure I have the energy to walk there."

"Yeah, saving the world sure is exhausting," said Peter.

"Actually, I think it was climbing one of the tallest mountains in Japano that did it," said April. "Or spending all afternoon walking here."

"Whatever… anyways," said Peter, "we don't have to walk all the way to town from here. That's what we have Pokémon for, right?"

By the end of their conversation, Tom and April were exhausted enough to agree with him. Rather than cross the bridge by foot, they decided to let their water-type Pokémon swim them across the river. Tom, Peter, and April rode on Kim, Vaporeon, and Milotic respectively until they reached the easternmost part of Route 212. This part was one big, muddy swamp, due to the rain that almost constantly drenched the area (though the sky was clear today). They had no desire to walk over this part, either, so they decided to fly over it. April had no flying-type Pokémon, so it seemed like they would have to do this in multiple trips. Peter had a better idea. He let April fly on Honchkrow while he took out Jeffrey and got on his back. Jeffrey could hop over the terrain with ease, while Charlie and Honchkrow (carrying Tom and April, respectively) flew close to the ground nearby. It was fortunate that nobody else was on the route at that moment, for the enormous Omega Metroid would have gotten some very strange looks.

By the time they reached the eastern end of Route 212, the sun was on its way down. To the east of the route awaited Pastoria City, a relatively small town surrounded by swampy woodland on almost every side, except for the bit of ocean it bordered at its southeastern edge. There had obviously been celebrations here, too, though they had mostly died down. Everyone passed by discarded confetti, fireworks, and noise-makers as they walked to the Pokémon Center.

Inside the Pokémon Center, everyone got their dinner. The trainers (and Manny) sat at a table to eat while leaving their Pokémon in the pen (except Jeffrey, who would probably cause a scene thanks to his new evolution). The talking heads on T.V. were still going on about the events of that morning even though no new information had been released.

The trainers took turns going somewhere private and calling their families. Tom tensed up as he began telling his mother about what he'd volunteered to do. As it turned out, there was no need. The Governor, apparently, had told her about it the previous night, just after Tom had made his decision. The Governor even gave her the option of forbidding her son to go on such a dangerous mission. "Oh, believe me, it was tempting," she told Tom. "But how could I live with myself if I did that? The Governor had decided it was best for the planet, and you had personally agreed to it. Disallowing you would have been outright selfish! …But I'm so glad to hear your voice. It's so good to know that you're okay. Tell me, what happened there?" Tom told her everything, and I mean everything. He got really into it, too, changing his tone to fit each scene. From Ms. Tasby's reactions, it was clear to me that only a single emotion filled her mind, crowding out all the others: relief. She was extremely glad to know that her son was okay. In the end, they actually had a fairly pleasant conversation.

The three trainers nibbled at their food, having all called their families now. "So the Governor told our parents what we were doing," said Peter. "But why didn't he tell _us_ that he had told them?"

"I guess it was to make it feel like it was our own decision," said Tom. "Otherwise, it might have felt like it was more our parents' choice than ours."

They continued nibbling, though they didn't eat much. "Man, I don't get it," said Peter. "How can I feel so tired and at the same time feel so unable to sleep?"

I contributed with my usual wisdom. "To simplify," I said, "your body still hasn't returned to normal after the stress and tension of battle this morning. The danger you were in filled your body with hormones that put you in a battle-ready state and now part of your brain is still looking out for that danger." I hoped this was only an immediate issue for them. I decided not to say that this kind of condition can sometimes linger for years.

"What do we do now, though?" asked April. "If we're too tired to walk anymore, but we don't want to go to bed…."

"I'd kinda just like to sit down somewhere," said Peter. "I mean somewhere outside, you know? Just to relax and stuff."

Tom looked at the map on my screen. "There's a beach on the route next to here," he said. "We could…."

"That's perfect!" said Peter. "Yeah, lying on the beach, watching the waves and the sunset… maybe that'll finally clear our minds."

* * *

Route 213 was, indeed, mostly beach. First, though, the group had to walk over a large field to get to it. The beach itself was somewhat rocky, but this became less true as they got closer to the ocean. When they found a rock-free patch of sand, all four of them lay down on their backs. The ocean in front of them was fairly calm, and the sky above them was transitioning from orange to red.

After a few minutes of silent relaxation, Peter spoke. "Tom… we've been getting closer to Sunyshore City all day. Is that where we're going? Are you trying to get the badge there?"

"Yeah," Tom admitted. "I think I'll try to get it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" April said in surprise. "Are you serious? After everything we just made our Pokémon do… you think you can go back to normal, friendly battles right away?"

"I'm going to have to eventually, right?" said Tom. "Otherwise I'll never become Champion. And the longer I wait, the harder it'll be. If I go a long time where the stuff that we did this morning is the last time I used my Pokémon in battle… that's what will stick with me, and it'll be harder to go back. I want to avoid that."

"Still, though…" said April, "…will it really be that easy to go back to our normal lives so quickly?"

"What's our alternative?" asked Tom. "To put everything on hold so we can mope for a while? I just don't think that's healthy. Besides… when I became a Pokémon trainer, I had one goal in mind: to become the Champion of the Pokémon League. That's been my dream for as long as I can remember. Honestly… even when we were at war with the Space Pirates, fighting for our lives… in the back of my mind, it was all just part of my Pokémon training. Getting all the badges and defeating the Elite Four was always my goal, and it still is now."

"Really, though," said Peter, "you might as well just waltz up to the Pokémon League now and ask for your Championship. You're as determined as anyone and your Pokémon just _won a war_. I don't see how you could lose."

Tom smiled. "Don't be so sure," he said. "I know there are people as determined as me out there… and some really strong trainers, too. But thanks."

They looked up at the sky as the stars began to appear. On the eastern horizon, the moon was rising; it was almost half-full, but not quite. April stifled a quiet sob, then sniffled. "Sorry," she said. "I… think I'm getting better."

"Good," said Peter, "but there's no need to apologize. There's nothing wrong with crying, you know."

As it got darker, the teenagers (and Manny) displayed no desire to move. "Um, do we want to go back to Pastoria and get some bedrooms?"

"I know I don't," said Peter. "Getting in another normal bed in another normal Pokémon Center room would just seem too… well… normal."

"Yeah," April concurred. "And… I'm not sure I can go a whole night alone in a room."

"Hey, guys," said Peter. "You all have de-compressible sleeping bags with you, right?" They did. "So why don't we just sleep out here? I've kinda wanted to camp out at least once since I became a trainer, so why not now, right?"

Peter's plan was agreed on and put into action. Soon, they were all in sleeping bags, surrounded by all seventeen of their Pokémon. Many of these Pokémon gathered wood from the trees at the northern part of the route so that Charlie could light a fire behind the trainers, keeping them warm. They had talked about trying to relax pretty much all day, but as they looked up at the moon and stars – and the occasional Wingull flying overhead – they finally seemed relaxed for what must have been the first time that day. They talked casually, as they always did.

At one point, Peter raised his arm and pointed up. "Y'know," he said, "if what Arceus said is true, then Oscelon is up there somewhere."

"Yeah," said Manny. "The thing that accidentally made me."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it matters," he said. "Nobody cares how you came into existence. It's what you do after you're born that matters."

"Yeah, I know," said Manny, but he didn't sound convinced. I wondered if this was why he'd been so quiet up till now.

"I still can't get my head around it," said Peter. "Around all that stuff Arceus told us. How can you make the universe like a video game? Is Pokémon training really just that… just something from a video game?"

"You're looking at it the wrong way, I think," said Tom. "It's not that it made the universe like a video game, but that it made some video games more like the universe. Arceus told us that video games have a different kind of 'Life Energy' than the real world, remember? Oscelon had to totally change them to make them compatible with real life. I don't think the real world can be made to be like a video game. There's too much freedom; you can't limit it to a set of rules."

"Whoa," said Peter, "that's, like, deep."

"I dunno. That's just what I think."

"What about that thing on Oscelon?" said April. "You know… I think he called it the 'Leviathan Seed' or something. Arceus said it's still up there, and Mewtwo's still inside. Isn't someone going to have to take care of that?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "Probably Samus or something. She's taken care of some tough shit before, so I bet it'll be her. Anyway, she said our involvement is over, remember? So it's not our problem anymore. From now on, it's back to normal for us."

* * *

When everyone awoke the next morning, they already seemed healthier and happier than before. Sleep had refreshed them, apparently. They packed up their sleeping bags and then took out a picnic blanket to eat breakfast on. They took out packaged food from their backpack both for themselves and their Pokémon. Once breakfast was over, the supplies were put away and every Pokémon was withdrawn except Manny, Umanda, Flareon, and Vaporeon.

"So… on to Sunyshore?" asked Peter.

"That's the plan," said Tom.

"So we're really doing this, huh?" said April.

"Well, yeah," Tom replied. "Like I said, I don't think it'd be healthy just to stick around and do nothing. We'd just get stuck in the past. I want to keep moving forward… and you're free to join me if you want."

April chuckled slightly. "Yeah, like we'd separate now," she said sarcastically. "We've been through _way_ too much for that."

"Then what're we waiting for?" said Peter. "Let's get going!"

Despite Peter's enthusiasm, they did not walk on the beach very quickly. They talked and joked as they walked. I was amazed by how much happier they already seemed; perhaps Tom was right about the need to move forward. It gave them at least a glimpse of normality.

They walked on the beach until the beach was no more. At the northeastern end of Route 213, a resort area had been paved over the rocks and sand. This allowed for a faster method of travel: bicycling. The trainers took out their bicycles (all of their Pokémon had to be withdrawn) and sped off. They rode past the many hotel buildings and gardens in the resort area until they finally got to its eastern end. This put them in Route 222. This route was on the shore, so there was still a beach. But running parallel to this beach, just north of it, was a dirt path that went through grassy fields. The trainers rode this path eastward, gradually getting closer to Sunyshore City. A forest ran parallel to their path not far to their left, while the ocean met the sand not far to their right. Unlike yesterday, there were a few clouds in the sky, but not many.

It was very obvious when they entered Sunyshore City, because suddenly there was no more grass or sand – only gray rock. Sunyshore City was built into a rocky cape, as well as some rock outcroppings jutting out of the ocean. The city was famous for the large elevated walkways that allowed people to travel between the rocky platforms that the city was made up of; the walkways also functioned as solar panels that helped power the city.

The Pokémon Center was right next to the city entrance. The trainers went there to grab a quick lunch. Then it was off to Sunyshore Gym. They had to walk along a fairly long stretch of the walkway to get to the gym, which was on a very high rock plateau. The inside of the gym was like a maze, or a giant puzzle. Rotating bridges connected the many platforms spread across the gym; the trainers had to navigate these bridges to get to the other side of the gym. The platforms themselves were bustling with activity; dozens of trainers were training or battling their Pokémon all over the place, and our group had to cautiously avoid them.

Finally, Tom got to the large arena at the back of the gym. Soon, he was face-to-face with Volkner, the Gym Leader. Peter and April walked to the sidelines as Tom challenged Volkner to a battle.

"Say," Volkner said at one point, "have I seen you before? You look familiar."

Tom smiled. He took off his hat. "It's the hat," he said. "It's pretty popular in my hometown, Pallet Town. Red wore it, though, so it makes people think they've seen me somewhere." Volkner seemed to buy this explanation.

Tom and Volkner got on opposite ends of the arena, and their battle began. Tom's first Pokémon was Umanda; Volkner's first was a Jolteon. The Jolteon started off by trying to paralyze Umanda with a Thunder Wave, but amazingly, wasn't fast enough – Umanda had already dug herself into a hole. Soon, she popped out from beneath the Jolteon to inflict a harsh blow to it. Now the Jolteon really did hit her with a Thunder Wave… but Tom had been prepared for that. Umanda consumed the Cheri Berry attached to her hold-item necklace to prevent paralysis. She then hit the Jolteon with another Dig attack. It was every bit as powerful as the last, and the Jolteon did not get back up afterwards.

Next, Volkner sent out a Raichu. This Raichu knew Signal Beam, a strong bug-type attack – which dark-type Pokémon are weak to. As with the Jolteon, the Raichu did not attack in time before Umanda went underground. When she smashed into her opponent from below, the Raichu looked almost ready to faint. But it did not, and it quickly hit Umanda with a Signal Beam. Umanda looked unfazed. One more Dig knocked the Raichu out for good.

Volkner replaced his Raichu with a Luxray. Tom replaced Umanda, too – but not because he needed to. In fact, Umanda was doing fine and looked ready for more. No, Tom apparently just replaced her to give someone else a turn. Umanda might have beaten all four of Volkner's Pokémon on her own had Tom not switched things up. Manny came out to take her place.

The fight between Manny and the Luxray did not last very long. Manny absolutely brutalized it. The Luxray gave him all it had, but despite all the biting and electricity, Manny never looked like he had been weakened. One last Cross Chop robbed the Luxray of its remaining consciousness.

Then came the final duel: Manny vs. Volkner's Electivire. This was actually somewhat interesting, because it was quite a tough Electivire. It consistently returned Manny's punches with its own electrically-charged ones. This fight lasted slightly longer. But the outcome was never really in question. Manny chopped, punched, and tossed his opponent until it couldn't take any more. The Electivire fainted, and Tom had earned his Beacon Badge.

* * *

"Um… Tom?" said Peter. "What the hell do you need so much stuff for?"

The trainers were at Sunyshore's supermarket. The other two had bought a few things here and there, but Tom was really hording things – especially pre-prepared food and camping equipment.

"I'm going to be gone for a while," Tom said as he packed up the things he'd bought. "Sorry for not telling you earlier. Now that I have all eight badges, I want to get to the Elite Four as soon as possible. No point in waiting."

When they finished packing up their new purchases, the trainers walked back outside. "Tom," said Peter. "I know we've been over this, but I think you're kinda rushing things here. Yeah, I know that if we don't move forward now it'll be hard to later, and you're just doing what you planned from the beginning, blah blah blah. But do you really think it'll do you any harm just to stay here with us for _one _more day? There's stuff to see and do in Sunyshore, and in places near Sunyshore too. You don't have to be so caught up on this one goal that you can't have fun on the side."

"I know," said Tom. "Normally, I'd be fine with it. Here's the thing, though: my Pokémon are stronger now that I think they might ever be. The life-or-death struggle on Spear Pillar really forced them to awaken their full potential. Not that it hasn't been happening before then… but I think that battle gave them the final push, and with the Pirates gone, it's a push they aren't going to rise above. That's not to say we don't have work to do. It's really important that I now help them _redirect_ this new power to where it'll most be useful. It could take a while. But the longer we wait, the longer it will have been since they reached their peak… and that might make things harder."

"So then what, exactly, is your plan?" asked April.

"I'm going back to Kanto," Tom answered. "I'm not interested in the Pokémon League here – it's the Indigo League I've always been after. In Kanto, I'll go straight to Victory Road. And that's where I'll stay. I'm not coming out of there until I'm absolutely positive that I can beat the Champion. I have no idea how long that'll take. So I better pack up for a long visit."

* * *

Tom, Peter, April, and Manny walked up a ramp that led to the Vista Lighthouse, a tall lighthouse that was built on the highest point in the city, on an outcropping of rock that rose up from the sea. When they got there, they had a complete view of the city carved into the rocks, as well as the ocean that ran through it. The ocean continuously attacked these rocks, surrounding them with white foam.

"So this is really happening, huh?" said Peter. "You're leaving us already?"

"Well, for now, yeah," said Tom. "This is what I set out to do from the beginning, so no point in waiting. But I'll see you again soon enough. You'll see me when I face the Champion… I'll do my best to make sure you get front-row seats."

"Wait a moment," said April, "how do you plan on getting back to Kanto? It's not exactly a stone's-throw away. I thought you were going to take a boat or something."

"Nah," said Tom, "no need. Not when I can fly there." He released Charlie from his Pokéball. "If he ever gets tired, I can just take Kim out and ride her across the ocean for a while until Charlie's ready again. It might be a little tough for them, but they've already been through so much more – I know they can handle it."

Tom and Manny merely looked at Peter and April for a few seconds. "So… this is goodbye, then?" asked April.

"Yeah," said Tom. "Um, goodbye, guys."

April stepped closer to him, and he stepped closer too in response. Then, to Tom's momentary surprise, April wrapped her arms around him. Tom seemed hesitant for a moment, but then hugged her back just as tightly. Afterwards, Tom walked over to Peter. At first it seemed like they would just shake hands, but then they gave in and hugged each other as well. Manny then stepped forward too. He grabbed April in his right arms and Peter in his left arms to simultaneously hug both of them. Tightly. "See you guys later!" said Manny as he squeezed them. When he let go, they both gasped for breath. "Oh, erm, sorry 'bout that."

Tom withdrew Manny and got on Charlie's back. Tom said one last good-bye to Peter and April, both of whom wished him good luck. Charlie puffed a pillar of smoke into the air in an apparent bid farewell. Then Tom and Charlie were on their way to Kanto, flying above the sea.


	31. Indigo Plateau

Five days later, Tom emerged from Victory Road.

It was mid-morning. Tom and his Pokémon (and I) had spent the last five consecutive nights in the caves of Victory Road, where they'd trained nonstop. But now we were finally outside. Tom stretched his limbs and breathed deeply, obviously happy to be out of the dark, stale caves. Manny walked beside him, and Ralph walked beneath him.

A motion detector near the exit of Victory Road flashed red; this would indicate to the guards that Tom really did pass through Victory Road, and didn't sneak up to the Plateau through some other means. In front of us lay a tall, magnificent staircase leading up to the Pokémon League building. Tom looked around, but all he saw was mountains, mountains, and more mountains; the only sign of civilization in sight was the building in the distance, plus the staircase leading up to it. Tom seemed to relish the serene isolation.

Tom, Manny, and Ralph then climbed the staircase. They walked beneath a couple of large arches on their way up. At the top of the staircase, they encountered a man in sunglasses, dressed entirely in black. "Name, please," said the man.

"Thomas Tasby," said Tom, and he pulled out his Trainer Card to confirm his identity.

The man in black fiddled with the screen on his digital notepad. "Okay, you're good," he said. "You signed up at the Pokémon League reception gate… five days ago. Wow, you were in there for quite a while."

"Is it normal to spend so long in there?" Tom asked.

"It's not unheard of," the man replied. "But it's pretty rare; most folk try to get through there as fast as they can. You're either really determined or you got really, really lost. Anyway, you're going to have to show me your badges one more time, just to be sure."

Tom put down his backpack; from within it, he pulled out a small case that contained all eight of the badges he had earned over the past four weeks. Satisfied, the man in black handed Tom a card. "This is your key to entering the Pokémon League," the man said. "You'll also need it in order to begin the Elite Four challenge. You're lucky – all four members happen to be present today, which isn't always the case. You're free to challenge them as soon as you feel ready for it."

"Oh, I think we're as ready as we'll ever be," said Tom. Manny and Ralph followed their trainer as he entered the very large building in front of them.

* * *

Inside the building was a large reception area for trainers to get themselves ready for the coming battles. There was a Pokémon Center-like counter with a healing machine; Tom used it to heal up his Pokémon. There was also a Pokémart-like shop; Tom bought an assortment of healing items there, replacing the ones he'd used up in Victory Road.

Tom got himself mentally prepared, then walked to the grand doorway at the far end of the room, the doorway that led to the Elite Four. His mental preparations, it turned out, were premature – the door's guard told Tom that the Elite Four were already facing a challenger, and that he would have to wait until they were done. Disappointed, Tom went back to the reception area and found a chair to sit down in. Manny sat in the chair next to him while Ralph leapt onto his lap. It was fortunate that he came in the morning – later in the day, there would almost certainly have been a line to wait in.

"I can barely believe this is happening," said Tom, petting Ralph. "I've been dreaming almost my whole life of getting here. And here I am."

Manny patted his trainer on the back. "We've come far, bud," he said. "It's been a thrill making this journey with you. Time to finish it off with a bang, right?"

Finally, the trainer facing the Elite Four was defeated. A freckled boy who looked about a couple years older than Tom emerged from the doorway to the Elite Four. He looked unhappy. Tom passed by him on his way to the grand door in the back. "Be careful in there," said the boy. "Those guys are way tougher than anyone I've ever battled before."

"Thanks," said Tom, "but I think I can handle it." The boy raised an eyebrow, surprised at this confidence. Tom merely continued walking until he was at the doorway. Once there, the guard made sure he had been authorized, and then allowed Tom to go through and begin his challenge against the Elite Four.

* * *

Tom's sweat glands activated the moment he stepped into the first room. It was hot. None of the lighting was electric – it was all fire. Torches lined the walls. Literal pillars of fire rose from the ground to the ceiling, encased in heat-proof glass. The corners of the room were filled with what appeared to be red-hot coals. Between all of this, in the center of the room, was an arena. And across the arena from Tom was a throne-like chair. Seated in this chair, cross-legged and slumped backward, was the first challenger of the Elite Four: June Maywood.

"Tom Tasby? Is that you?" asked June.

"Yeah, it's me," said Tom as he walked closer. "Nice seeing you again, June."

June smirked. "My, isn't this a surprise," he said. "Then again, perhaps it shouldn't be. Great talent in Pokémon training will often reveal itself early on. Numerous trainers face the Elite Four within their first month of training – which, I believe, you are still in."

"And how many of them succeed?"

"Almost none. It will be intriguing to see whether or not you are an exception."

"Not to brag," said Tom, "but I've had some pretty exceptional training."

"So I've heard," said June. "I was told all about what happened on Spear Pillar. How is my sister, by the way? I heard of her unfortunate loss, as well."

"Yeah, she was really sad about that for a while. But April's strong, and I'm pretty sure she's moved on by now. Her Pokémon did a great job on Spear Pillar, you know. She's become a really good trainer. If you don't watch out, she might even surpass you."

June chuckled. "We'll see about that," he said. "For now, I'm more interested in whether _you_ have surpassed me within the few weeks since I last saw you. If you'd like to begin the battle, get across from me on the arena. As with all Elite Four members, I will be using five Pokémon; you may use however many you wish."

Tom began walking; June stood up. Both of them took out a Pokéball. "Prepare yourself, Tom," said June. "Elite Four battles are of a different magnitude than those against gym leaders. There is a crucial distinction you ought to be aware of: unlike gym leaders, Elite Four trainers do not hold back. Not one bit."

* * *

June was right, as Tom soon found out; the Elite Four was incomparable with gym leader battles. If Tom thought that he could defeat all of June's fire-type Pokémon with Kim alone, he was mistaken. While Kim did manage to defeat June's first Pokémon (a Ninetails) and greatly damage his second (a Rapidash), she was getting weaker by then, and Tom decided to switch her out. After that, Tom rotated through several of his Pokémon throughout the battle. It was tough, but Tom always had the upper hand. Kim dealt the final blow to two more of June's Pokémon before she was finally knocked out. None of Tom's other Pokémon fainted during the battle. It all ended when Manny dealt one last attack to June's Houndoom, knocking it out.

June withdrew his fainted Houndoom. "Impressive," he said. "I must admit, you did better than I expected. However, I am still not certain if you can defeat the other three. Their Pokémon are stronger than mine… and mine did give you some difficulty."

Tom smiled. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it," he said. "But it's good to hear there'll be a challenge. It's no fun when there isn't."

June inspected Tom. "There's something different about you," he concluded. "It hasn't been a month since I last saw you, yet you seem different somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it."

Tom obviously hadn't expected this. "Neither can I," he said. "I haven't even gotten a haircut since then."

"Well… in any case, you are now free to continue through the door behind me. There you'll find a hallway, and at the other end is the room with the next member of the Elite Four. On your way there, you're free to feed your Pokémon whatever healing items you'd like, provided you have them with you. It was nice seeing you again, Tom – but this is a business-related meeting, and you have some more business to take care of."

* * *

Albert hit Bruno's Hitmonchan with another Psychic attack, finally knocking it out. That was the last of Bruno's Pokémon, which meant Tom had won. He had finally defeated all four members of the Elite Four.

Bruno withdrew his Hitmonchan. "I see," he said in his booming voice, wearing the same stone-cold face he had worn the whole time and apparently never took off. "Congratulations, challenger. You are one of the few trainers with the skill and determination it takes to beat the Elite Four. But do not think you have become Champion yet! It is not enough to simply beat the Elite Four – you must also face, and defeat, the sitting Champion in order to earn his title. He is in the building now, as fate would have it. Come, I will introduce you to him."

Bruno walked toward a door at the end of his room. Tom followed the buff, shirtless man through this door, which led to yet another hallway. At the end of this hallway was a grand double-door similar to the one at the entrance of the Elite Four challenge. Bruno opened this door and led Tom into the Champion's room.

This was much bigger than any of the rooms Tom had been through so far. In its center was an enormous arena. The arena alone was bigger than any of the Elite Four rooms, yet it did not fill the entirety of the room. Around the rim of the room, far above the arena, were stands with the capacity to seat hundreds of people. The room had an air of grandiosity to it – statues of legendary Pokémon lined the walls both below and above the stands, and the standard Pokéball design on the arena was gold and silver instead of the typical red and white. A red carpet led Tom and Bruno from the doorway to the arena.

Someone was training their Pokémon in the arena. Tom's eyes shifted from a Fire Blast created by an Arcanine to the Jolteon running away to dodge it. Then his eyes settled on the trainer to whom these Pokémon belonged, the current Champion of the Pokémon League: Jude Tutino.

Jude's Pokémon stopped what they were doing when they noticed the new arrivals. Tom smiled as he walked closer to his rival. "Never doubted it for a second," he muttered.

"It's about time you got here," said Jude. "I've been waiting for you."

"You two know each other?" Bruno asked, not looking or sounding surprised (he probably never did).

"For as long as I can remember," Jude answered.

"Anyway," said Bruno, "Champion battles take time to prepare. They are momentous events. People need time to arrive here – the media and such. Your battle shall take place tomorrow at seven-thirty in the evening."

Tom and Jude shook hands. "It hardly matters much now, though, does it?" said Tom. "You got here before I did. You already beat me, in that regard."

"Like that matters," Jude retorted. "Whoever wins tomorrow will be the best trainer – no ifs, ands, or buts. Who wins the Championship faster isn't the issue. It's who gets to keep it."

"Good to hear," said Tom. "But since I'm going to win tomorrow, you basically just conceded to me."

Jude snickered. "That's cute, I guess. But the 'fake confidence' thing doesn't really fit you. Try acting all timid and stuff next time – you're a natural at it, and it'll make your opponent underestimate you, let their guard down." But contrary to Jude's claim, Tom's confidence was definitely not fake. I could feel it flowing strongly within him.

Tom paused for a moment, unsure how to respond. Then he simply shrugged and said, "Whatever you need to tell yourself."

Jude smiled. He looked at Tom like he was inspecting something. "Well, before we part, let me just say that you have _drastically_ exceeded my expectations. You've become a great trainer – no, a _really_ great trainer, Tom. It's hard to deny that. But a lot of my past statements remain true. I highly doubt you have what it takes to be the _best_ trainer. And if you want to win tomorrow, that's what you'll have to be. Well, good luck, I suppose. See you in a day and a half or so."

* * *

Championship battles had been broadcasted live for most of the Pokémon League's history. Their outcome was of extreme interest to people in all levels of the Pokémon training circuit, and even non-trainers were aware enough of their significance that they'd often tune in. More recent, and more controversial, was the attendance of a live audience to view these battles. The audience was not large, usually; other than the media, only friends and family members of the competitors tended to show up on such short notice. For everyone else, it was much more expensive and not really worth the trip. Anyway, there had to be some time to let people arrive, hence the day-and-a-half waiting time Tom found himself stuck with.

The Pokémon League building was very large and had many rooms. One of the largest of these rooms was dedicated to training; it was most often used by people preparing to either face or re-face the Elite Four. Tom was the only one in that room who'd actually managed to defeat them. Most of the others there had already heard about this (word spreads fast) and took a particular interest in Tom. Challenges against the Elite Four were a regular occurrence, but victory was very rare. The other trainers were eager to battle against someone as rare as Tom. Tom was glad to oblige, and spent most of that day battling the trainers in that room. Some of them were quite tough and even managed to knock out a couple of Tom's Pokémon – but never more than a couple. Tom defeated all of them handily. Interestingly, Tom recognized one of these trainers: it was the blonde girl he had battled on Nugget Bridge just outside of Cerulean City. That was many weeks ago. They had both come far since then, though Tom had come much farther.

Tom seemed uncertain of what to do for most of that evening. Nobody else had arrived at Indigo Plateau yet; the only exception was a cameraman and newswoman from JohtoTV. Tom undoubtedly recognized them, for they were the same duo who had interviewed him after the Battle of Goldenrod City. He tried to ignore them for many hours, but eventually they cornered him and he let them conduct an interview. For the most part, it went smoothly. They started out with bogus questions about how he _feels_, what it's _like_, yadda yadda; Tom answered them as honestly as he could. Then they got into more factual questions about his involvement in various attacks against the Pirates, including the raid on the Radio Tower and the incidents at the Weather Institute and Snowpoint Temple; again, Tom answered them as honestly as he could. The only problem came near the end of the interview.

"How do you respond to speculation that you were one of the trainers who defeated the Space Pirates on Spear Pillar?" the lady asked.

Tom hesitated. The government had decided, at least temporarily, not to reveal the names of anyone involved in that incident. Tom had never shown any desire to subvert this policy. "…No comment," he finally answered. Though without a flat-out denial, he might as well have just confirmed it. (Jude had done the same in an earlier interview; by now, it was pretty much assumed that both kids were involved. If the government was trying to keep that secret, they had done a terrible job of it.)

Besides the interview, Tom spent much of the evening talking on the phone (that's me) with his friends and his mother. It would be easy enough for his mother to come watch the battle, since she was family, but for everyone else it would be extremely expensive to attend unless Tom filled out a bunch of paperwork for them, which he assured them that he would do. Peter, April, and Tom's mother all gave him words of support. So did Opal, I assume, though I chose not to process that conversation for fear that listening in on two awkward teenagers with unresolved tension would make me hate the universe.

Tom also trained that night, in a field behind the building, but less and less as the night went on. By the time the sun had gone down, he was merely relaxing, leaning his back on the back wall of the enormous Pokémon League building. He gazed upon the mountains that surrounded Indigo Plateau; the icy peak of Mt. Silver was right in front of him. Tall as it was, it must have not looked so impressive when he had the much larger Mt. Coronet to compare it to. Manny sat next to Tom, while the rest of his Pokémon relaxed the nearby field… with the exception of Charlie, who was too restless to sit still and decided to fly around the plateau instead.

"So how's this gonna work?" asked Manny. "There are people coming over, right? So how much of an audience will be there to see the battle?"

"Not much of one," said Tom, "and we won't even see or hear them. It's not like a sports game – the outcome of champion battles are important enough that they don't want to give us any distractions. There usually aren't that many people who come over, and even those get put behind a sound-proof, tinted glass wall; we won't get to see or hear them until after the battle. But there's still going to be a lot of people watching us on T.V. Like, tens of thousands of people. Even a lot of non-trainers watch the champion battles. And this one might get even more views than usual, since lots of people are getting the idea that Jude and I are heroes or something."

"What do you mean, 'getting the idea'?" said Manny, rubbing his knuckles on Tom's (hat-covered) head. "They're just seeing it how it is."

Tom smiled; his face was slightly red. "It's you guys who've earned that title, not me," he said. "I'm not the one who killed Kraid with one of his own weapons."

"Aw yeah, that was definitely one of my finer moments."

They sat in silence for several minutes. Finally, Manny spoke up again. "Tom…" he said, "…don't get me wrong, now, I'd _love_ to see you beat Jude. But I just thought I'd let you know: I don't care all that much whether we win or lose tomorrow. I'm just glad I got to make the journey here with you."

Tom turned his head to look at his Machamp. "Me too, Manny."

* * *

Tom woke up the next morning not to my alarm, but to the knocking on his door. "Wake up already!" said a male voice outside. Tom's lack of reaction indicated that he was not yet awake enough to process Peter's voice. Eyes half-closed, he rolled out of bed and slowly walked over to the door. Upon opening the door, Tom was forced into full consciousness when a girl suddenly pounced on him. "Tom!" she shouted excitedly.

"Oh… hi, Opal," said Tom, hugging her back as he finally became aware of the situation. "Nice to see you."

Opal let go of Tom. For once, she looked somewhat unsure of what to say. "…Congratulations on beating the Elite Four," she said.

"Thanks," said Tom. He looked up to see the others in the doorway: Peter, April, and June. "Hi, guys."

"What were you sleeping so late for?" asked April. "We've been waiting for you. It's almost ten in the morning! _You're_ the one who always made us get up at seven."

"Yeah, what's the deal?" Peter added.

Tom smiled, likely realizing that only very close friends would allow themselves to act this irritated upon seeing him for the first time in almost a week. Politeness becomes less necessary the more people already trust each other. "I didn't get much sleep in Victory Road," Tom answered. "There's no day or night in there; it's always the same level of darkness. My biological clock got all out of whack."

"Why'd you spend all that time in there?" April asked. "You could have trained… you know… somewhere that isn't in a cave."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that may have been a mistake."

Tom made them all wait outside as he got changed; once finished, he let the four of them into his room. There, they spent the rest of the morning chatting until it was time for lunch. Peter and April, apparently, had spent much of the last few days being a part of the effort to capture the Metroids inhabiting Mt. Coronet (Samus had convinced the Governor to have them all captured in Pokéballs rather than killed). They shared this experience while Tom talked about the few things worth sharing from his time in Victory Road. It was a happy, carefree reunion that seemed to take Tom's mind off of the upcoming challenge.

* * *

After lunch, Tom spent several hours pretending to train in the training room. He stayed away from challenges and generally seemed more interested in what his three friends were doing (June had gone back to work) than his own Pokémon. Peter, April, and Opal were all interested in seeing how they fared against trainers who had made it all the way to the League. To their great pleasure, Peter and April won every Pokémon battle they fought; Opal… lost on her first one. Tom was too intent on watching these matches to do much training himself.

Later on, Tom and friends left the training room to go back to the building's entrance, where Ms. Tasby had just arrived. It had been not quite two weeks since she'd last seen her son, but by her reaction, you'd think it had been years. This makes sense, though, when you consider how many times Tom had come close to death since their last meeting. Martha Tasby embraced her son, yapping about how worried she'd been, how proud she was, blah blah blah. Tom seemed greatly embarrassed to have this reunion in front of his friends, but was definitely glad to see his mother nonetheless.

Tom, his three friends, and his mother went to the only place they could find where they could talk in private: outdoors. On the land behind the Pokémon League building, they could talk about secret matters without being overheard – specifically, about Mt. Coronet and Spear Pillar, and what exactly happened there. Tom was happy to give his mother the details, as were Peter and April; he also talked more about Snowpoint Temple, and generally all of the other stuff he'd been through since he last saw her. Though he seemed happy, I could feel him getting more and more anxious as the day went on. He wanted to keep talking with his mother, but he knew he had to get ready for the battle, which was now only a few short hours away. Finally, he told the others that he needed to spend the rest of that time alone to get his Pokémon prepared.

* * *

In the lush fields behind the League building, Tom guided his Pokémon through their drills one last time. It wasn't so much training as it was a warm-up; he wasn't trying to improve them anymore, but rather, was making sure they remembered everything they had learned so far.

Tom ate pre-packaged food from his backpack for dinner early that evening (as did his Pokémon). As the sun began its slow descent, Tom looked around with exhilaration at the rugged mountains that surrounded Indigo Plateau. "There's something I love about these mountains," he told Manny. "I'm not sure exactly what. It's like… unexplored territory, you know? I mean, it's untamed, unconquered. It makes me want to be the one to conquer it – to find what there is to find here and take it for myself. You know what I mean?"

"Not at all," Manny confessed. "I'm kinda biased, though – I spent most of my life in the mountains. It's just home to me – nothing romantic about it."

About an hour before the battle, Tom looked behind him to see April watching his progress. "Oh, hi," he said to her. "Um, how long have you been there?"

"I just got here," she said. "Um, would it be too much of a bother to talk for a moment? You can get back to training if it is – it's not that important…."

"No, it's fine," said Tom. "These guys are pretty much set, anyways. What's up?"

"It's nothing, really," said April. "Just… remember what I said earlier, about how much better I felt when I realized I didn't have to win every battle? I've seen you obsess over the Championship for so long, and… sometimes it worries me. I don't want you to be like I was. I want you to win, but… you know you don't _have_ to win, right?"

Tom thought about this for a few seconds. "Not anymore," he said. "It was the most important thing in the world to me, once. I was a pretty lonely kid… I guess I used my obsession with Pokémon training to escape from that loneliness. It was… I don't know… a comforting thought, I guess, that even if nobody likes me now, someday I'll be the Pokémon League Champion and they'll have no choice to. Seems kind of silly, looking back." Tom half-smiled. "But I'm over that now. Ever since I met you and Peter, and Manny, and all of my other Pokémon… and Opal. I know there are things more important than the Pokémon League now. If I lose, I'll still have you guys." Tom full-smiled. "Not that it matters, though. I already know that I'm going to win."

April cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you so confident?" she asked. "I mean, I _hope_ you win, but…" She looked nervous. "…Haven't you lost against Jude every time you've battled him?"

Tom nodded. "Except the first time, which was more of a practice round. But that doesn't matter. I have it figured out now."

"Have what figured out?"

Tom looked around at his Pokémon with pride. "Let's just say I know something that Jude doesn't."

"Really?" said April, but she didn't sound skeptical. "That'll be interesting. I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds like you have things under control, so… I'll leave you and your Pokémon in peace." She turned away while waving her hand in the air. "Good luck!"

"Thanks," said Tom. Then, quieter: "But I won't need it."

* * *

The battle was in half an hour, but Tom needed to be present sooner. It was time to go. Tom gathered his Pokémon to tell them how proud he was, how strong they'd become, how much he cared for them whether they won or not; he finished off by stating his complete certainty that victory would be theirs. Then he withdrew them all, one by one. Without his Pokémon, it was really just him (and me) on a plateau in the middle of nowhere. Tom stretched his arms out. As far as I could tell, he felt alone in the world, but in a positive way. (He wasn't really alone, with me in his pocket; somehow, my presence never seemed to matter to him.) The openness and isolation seemed to give him a rush; perhaps he just felt free.

Tom walked toward the Pokémon League building; when he reached its wall, he learned how un-alone he actually was. When he stretched his arms again, they almost hit Opal Embs, who squeaked as she backed away. "Whoa!" Tom said in shock, followed by "Um, hi, Opal."

Opal blushed. "I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't want to bother you so I stayed hidden but… I… I hope you don't think it's weird or anything that I wanted to watch you train your Pokémon."

Tom smiled. "Why would I think it's weird? It's kind of flattering, actually." Nervously, he patted Opal's head. If possible, her face got even redder; Tom's face was more or less the same color.

Together, Tom and Opal walked around the large building toward the entrance. "Say Tom," said Opal, "is there something going on between April and my brother? They seem awfully nice to each other lately."

Tom shrugged. "It's been really hard to tell," he answered. "I don't know. But they've stopped being mad at each other, at least. When you go through the stuff we've been through together, it's hard to keep dumb little grudges like that."

They turned a corner. "You guys are so brave, fighting Space Pirates and stuff," said Opal. "I wish I could do stuff like that… but my Pokémon weren't strong enough."

"Trust me: be glad that you didn't. War isn't any fun. It's not like a Pokémon battle. Besides, having the strongest Pokémon isn't all that important."

Opal seemed surprised to hear this from a possible to-be Champion. "Really?"

They opened the door at the entrance to the Pokémon League and walked in. "I mean, there are more important things to worry about."

"Like what?"

It was an honest question, yet Tom seemed hesitant to answer. Instead, he merely looked into Opal's eyes. Opal stared back. They held this for many seconds; I once again considered raising the awkward level with a corny love song, but alas, that plan was never meant to be, and they talked again before I had time. Perhaps it would have worked had I acted sooner, but I did feel some reservations. Was I developing a "conscience"? Because, God, I hoped not.

"Um…" said Opal, "…the audience has to get to the stadium a different way than the competitors, so…."

"Yeah, I know. Bye, Opal."

Opal paused for a moment, then blurted it all out at once: "Bye Tom see you later good luck I know you can do it!" Then she fled, as if she were being chased. Tom continued looking in her general direction for several moments before finally getting back on track.

It was time for me to say something. It was only two words, but I had never said these two words to Tom before, so I had to really force them out there. Nonetheless, I felt it might improve Tom's chances of victory in his battle against Jude… which, I will admit, was my desired outcome.

"Tom," I said. He paused for a moment, surprised that I had addressed him by his actual name. I checked all of my stored memory out of curiosity (it only took a few nanoseconds) and found that, while I had used the name "Tom" in other people's presence, this was the first time I had _addressed_ him by his real name. Normally I had called him "kid" or "loser" or simply nothing at all. I made a note of that. Then I got on to what I had been trying to say: "Good luck."

Tom was stunned. "Wow, that's… that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Um, thanks."

I didn't say anything more; I didn't need to. Tom walked on toward the final battle.


	32. The Champion's Room

_Author's Note: So, uh, it has come to my attention that Judith is actually a female name. Let's just say that Jude's parents are as awful with names as I am._

* * *

Opal took her seat between June and April (Peter was sitting to the right of April). There were now large glass barriers that separated the stands from the arena. The glass was tinted from the arena side, and also soundproof, so that neither the Champion nor his competitor would see or hear the nearby audience (this was considered too serious of a distraction for such an important battle). The audience, of course, could both see and (thanks to hidden microphones) hear them.

"What took you so long?" April asked Opal.

"Oh I just… I was talking to Tom," she said, quickly and softly.

"Right, talking," Peter mumbled. He looked to his left and right. "What's the place so empty for?" he asked. "Champion battles are big news; you'd think more people would be here."

"Not necessarily," said June. "There's not much to gain from attending a Champion battle – due to the glass screen, it's not that superior to watching it on T.V. For the most part, the people who attend are those who simply happen to be on Indigo Plateau: the Elite Four and those who have come to challenge them, and the friends and family of the competitors who have come to reassure them."

"There are exceptions, however," said the Governor.

The kids practically jumped in shock. They turned around to see who was sitting behind them: the Governor, with Professor Oak seated to his right and Samus Aran seated to his left. The three of them greeted the four kids.

"But… what are you…." April stuttered.

"I've come to see the Pokémon battle, of course," said the Governor.

"Yes, I always love it when two of my pupils end up battling each other for the Championship," said Oak. "This battle in particular should be very interesting, considering who the trainers in question are and what they've done."

Samus merely smiled at the kids. She knew, as did the two seated beside her, that there was much more at stake here than the Championship.

* * *

Tom walked over the red carpet that led him to the arena. There, it was only him and Jude; thanks to the recently erected, tinted glass walls, it seemed to them like they were the only ones in the room. Even the cameras and microphones were hidden so as to not distract them. The two trainers shook hands, then went to opposite sides of the enormous arena. At each end was a short set of stairs that led up to a tiny balcony. Tom and Jude would stand from their balconies while battling in order to have a better view of the arena. On a wall to Tom's left, an electronic scoreboard was lit up; it showed Tom's name and face on one side, and Jude's name and face on the other. Both sides had six lit-up Pokéballs and a large number 6.

Bruno's booming voice filled the room. "The battle for the Championship of the Indigo League is about to commence! Judith Tutino, the sitting Champion, will face his challenger, Thomas Tasby, in a Pokémon battle. Should Mr. Tutino lose, he will forfeit the Championship to Mr. Tasby. Should Mr. Tasby lose, he will be banned from challenging the Indigo League again for at least one year. All official rules regarding Pokémon battles apply. You may both use as many Pokémon as you have; the first trainer to make all of his opponent's Pokémon faint is the winner. Now grab a Pokéball." (He waited a second for them to comply). "When the bell rings, you will release your Pokémon and the battle will begin. Do not hold anything back! Show us all the overwhelming strength your Pokémon have built up to bring you this far. Now, without further ado… begin!" At the very moment he said "begin," a very loud bell rang.

"Go, Kim!" Tom said as he released his Kingdra.

"Go, Swampert!" Jude said simultaneously (despite the distance between them, Tom could hear his opponent perfectly fine thanks to the microphones).

"Stealth Rock!" said Jude; "Dragon Dance!" said Tom.

Swampert threw a bunch of rocks into the air, where they levitated, forming a circle. As he did this, Kim moved back and forth in an unusual manner – it looked as though she were vibrating intensely. A dark glow seemed to surround her for a second but it quickly disappeared. The Dragon Dance had given her speed and attack power a small boost.

"Now, Earthquake!" said Jude; "Rain Dance!" said Tom.

Unlike Dragon Dance, Rain Dance isn't a "dance" at all. Kim's long snout produced a strong, steady stream of water vapor which quickly rose to the ceiling. Swampert, meanwhile, smashed his fists into the ground, shaking the entire arena so hard that it cracked and crumbled in several places. That damage wouldn't last – the arena was made of quality self-repairing material – but it did cause Kim quite a lot of trouble. She tumbled here and there, unable to stand up… but the steam continued rising, regardless, until it obscured the entire ceiling. Then this cloud began to rain on the arena. This rain would boost both Pokémon's water-type attacks – but while water-type attacks are almost useless against Kingdra, they are plenty effective against Swampert. "Clever," Jude muttered.

"Use Hydro Pump!" said Tom.

"Counter it with your own!" Jude quickly shouted.

Kim created a huge, immensely powerful stream of water that was blasted at Swampert; Swampert fired an identical stream of water at Kim. The two streams met in the middle; upon meeting, they exploded, shooting water in every direction in a display that blended in with the rain quite nicely. Both Pokémon were heaved backwards by the recoil. "Good move," Tom mumbled.

Jude ordered another Earthquake; Tom ordered Kim to use Surf. Riding the wave she conjured protected Kim from the Earthquake… but the Earthquakes continued almost non-stop, making it difficult to create a full wave for Surf from the ground up. Kim, at Tom's order, shot another Hydro Pump from atop her unstable, shallow wave; Swampert once again countered it with his own Hydro Pump.

The next few minutes were, in a word, intense. As the rain poured down, both Pokémon tried desperately to attack their opponent – sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The attacks themselves were all incredibly powerful, and the dodges were often done only in the nick of time. Often, both Pokémon were forced to use two moves at once – Kim came at Swampert riding a Surf while shooting a Hydro Pump, and Swampert would counter with an Earthquake while also shooting a Hydro Pump. It was already clear that, whoever won, this was going to become one of the more famous Champion battles.

Eventually, the cloud ran out of water and the rain stopped. Both Pokémon had been hit several times by now and were probably very hurt, but it was hard to tell exactly how hurt, since they were both trying to look as intimidating as possible. "Keep the Earthquakes coming!" said Jude.

"Dragon Dance!" said Tom. Jude made a strange face; he had not been expecting a non-attack move after all the hits Kim had already taken. Nonetheless, Kim did her vibration-dance-thing, despite having to be thrown around by Swampert's Earthquake in the meantime. Tom then gave his next order: "Now use Outrage!"

"Guard yourself!" Jude called out. Kim became enveloped in golden flames. Outrage is an extremely powerful dragon-type move that gives its user two or three intense bursts of energy, after which the Pokémon burns out and becomes disoriented. Kim, on her first wave of the attack, flew (for the golden, fire-like energy apparently gave her the power of flight) into Swampert head-first. Swampert crossed his arms defensively, but that could only do so much good; the attack still smashed him against a wall. Kim continued attacking her opponent with her head, her tail, or her entire body while Swampert did all he could to defend himself. "Use Ice Punch at an opening!" said Jude, but Swampert was busy keeping his head and stomach unharmed (at which he was mostly, but not totally, successful). Finally, Kim stopped for a moment, giving Swampert a chance to smash his icy fist into her side.

Then the golden fire rekindled and the second wave of Outrage began. It became clear right away that Swampert's energy was draining, and the more Kim flew into her opponent, the less effective his guarding became. Finally, Kim rammed her head into Swampert's belly, knocking him backwards a considerable distance. He fell on his back and did not get back up.

As Jude withdrew Swampert, one of the Pokéballs under his name on the scoreboard darkened; the large number under his name went from 6 to 5. "Impressive," said Jude while taking out another Pokéball. "But we're just getting started." He opened his Pokéball to release Jolteon onto the arena.

"More Outrage!" said Tom.

"Dodge it!" said Jude. "Use Thunderbolt when you get the chance!"

Kim unleashed her third wave upon Jolteon; unlike Swampert, however, Jolteon was very, very fast. He dodged every one of Kim's attacks (although sometimes, just barely). Once Kim's fire dwindled down again, Jolteon zapped her with a Thunderbolt. To Jude's surprise, she was still standing afterwards, and the determined look in her eyes never disappeared for a second.

And then, to Jude's even greater surprise, the _fourth_ wave of Outrage began. (As I said, there are only supposed to be two or three bursts). That caught both Jude and Jolteon off-guard, and the end of Kim's tail thwacked Jolteon in the face before he could fully dodge it. Jolteon avoided all of Kim's attacks from then on; she was reading his movements better, but he was reading hers better, too. When Kim ran out of steam again, Jolteon finished her off with another Thunderbolt.

At least, it was supposed to finish her off. Instead she took the attack without so much as flinching. And then the _fifth_ wave of Outrage began, catching Jolteon off-guard once again. Jude's eyes were pretty wide at that point. Fortunately for him, Jolteon hit his opponent with one more Thunderbolt before she could do much harm. At that moment, it became clear that Kim had been hiding just how hurt she really was. Having finally been pushed to her limit, the Kingdra simply shut down all at once.

Tom withdrew Kim, and his number on the scoreboard dropped from 6 to 5. "What the hell?" said Jude. "That Kingdra just kept going!"

"Of course she did," said Tom. "Kim never gives up. Your turn, Umanda!"

Out came Tom's Umbreon… who was beamed into the center of the circle of levitating stones. These stones threw themselves at her the moment she appeared. As with his last battle against Jude, Tom's Pokémon would be in danger every time they were switched.

"A special-defensive wall, hmm?" said Jude. "Alright then…." He withdrew Jolteon and then replaced him with Skarmory. "Skarmory, use Spikes!"

"Confuse Ray!" said Tom.

Skarmory pierced the floor with her beak and buried her head into it. Umanda merely looked at her, sending out invisible psionic waves. Neither attack was visible to the trainers or audience, but Skarmory just made it even more difficult for Tom to switch his Pokémon in and out. "Dark Pulse!" said Tom.

"Whirlwind!" said Jude as his Skarmory pulled her head out of the floor.

Skarmory's confusion held her up for a bit, allowing Umanda's dark beam to hit its target. But in spite of her confusion, Skarmory did manage to blow a vortex-like Whirlwind that literally blew Umanda back into her Pokéball. Tom did not feel alarmed, however: he knew who the next Pokémon to come out would be.

Just as the Whirlwind repelled Umanda back into her Pokéball, it also pulled at Tom's next Pokémon to come out of theirs. So out of no action by Tom himself, his next Pokémon came out: Ralph. Ralph was attacked not only by the floating stones, but also by the spikes that suddenly popped up from beneath him.

Jude was not interested in seeing how much damage Ralph could do before Skarmory could Whirlwind him away. Instead, he withdrew Skarmory the moment he saw a Raichu's form. "This one should be interesting," he said, and he released Snorlax.

It was a seven-foot-tall, thousand-pound colossus on one side against a two-foot-tall rodent. The feeling of inevitability this visual image produced was, in fact, not that far off from reality. Snorlax could easily absorb special attack after special attack – the kind of attack Raichu rely on. And Snorlax are extremely strong, attack-wise, in a way that Raichu aren't built to defend. Yet Tom felt only the mildest of concerns. "Start charging!" he ordered, cryptically.

Tom had remained focused in his "battle mode" the entire time, being mostly unfettered by emotions. But he did succumb to serious doubt for a second when Jude called out, "Earthquake!"

"Thunder Wave!" Tom ordered.

Snorlax jumped enthusiastically up and down, causing the arena to tremble and rupture. As the ground itself attacked him, Ralph ate a Shuca Berry on his hold-item necklace to somewhat reduce the damage. Still, the attack must've been quite painful for Ralph, but he stayed focused nonetheless; he zapped Snorlax with electrical shocks that seemed to stick with him afterward, crackling all over his fur. Ralph may have been hurt badly by the Earthquake, but Snorlax was paralyzed now, making the lumbering beast even slower. Jude told his Pokémon to keep using Earthquake. "Grass Knot!" said Tom.

Snorlax was too slow to use Earthquake before Ralph's attack. Grass Knot involves a knot of, well, grass, wrapping around the target's feet to knock them down. The bigger the target, the harder the fall, and Snorlax was very big. He was also very strong; when he stood up after Ralph tripped him, he did not look fazed in the least.

Tiny sparks of electricity were popping up, sparsely, around the arena. Jude didn't seem to notice. Tom did.

Snorlax crouched, readying himself to jump and create another Earthquake… but didn't act in time. Ralph sped over to his feet, conjured a Grass Knot, and tripped Snorlax again, making him fall on his stomach. This scene played itself out once more; by then the attacks were finally starting to get to Snorlax, but for the most part he seemed unhindered. He finally jumped before Ralph could trip him; the ensuing Earthquake thrust Ralph all over the arena. It would have instantly knocked out any lesser Raichu, but not Ralph, who got back up, bruised and beaten, ready for his last stand. Snorlax prepared to deliver the final blow….

"Static Battlefield!" Tom shouted.

"What?" said Jude, mostly to himself. His confusion transformed into complete shock (no pun intended), though, when he saw what Ralph was doing. Ralph had jumped up to Snorlax's belly and then grasped onto it. That's when the sparks began to fly – literally. The sparks were everywhere; the arena had become a blinding light show. But the most blinding light of all came from Ralph and Snorlax, the latter of whom was receiving rapid jolts of electricity on every inch of his body. Ralph had spent the past couple minutes ionizing the air, and now was attracting all of that static to his opponent. The great thing (for Tom and Ralph) about Static Battlefield was that the greater the target's surface area, the more damage it did – and Snorlax's surface area happened to be very large.

"Body Slam it!" said a semi-panicked Jude. The spastic, brightly-lit Snorlax smashed its belly – which Ralph was still clinging to – into the ground. The electricity stopped. Ralph was squished between the ground and a thousand-pound Snorlax; after all he'd been through, there was no reviving from that. Snorlax rolled over to reveal a fainted Ralph, whom Tom withdrew. The scoreboard now read 4 for Thomas Tasby and 5 for Judith Tutino.

"Hold up just a second!" said Jude while Tom took out his next Pokéball. "What the hell was _that_? That wasn't even a real move!"

"It is now," said Tom. "I came up with it! And only a Pokémon as focused and dedicated as Ralph could ever pull it off!"

"Is that even allowed?"

"Of course it is!" Tom replied. "They're not going to ban innovation. Go, Manny!"

Manny was beamed into the battlefield, only to immediately find himself being attacked by the stealthy Stealth Rocks. Manny blocked some of the rocks with his arms, but that only did so much good; meanwhile, Spikes shot up from the ground below him and dug into his feet, making them bleed. As with his last fight against Jude, Tom would have to play defensively and switch Pokémon as little as possible.

Snorlax was still able to stand and looked ready to fight, but his fur was badly burnt in several places, giving him a disheveled appearance. In any case, Jude wasn't about to pit him against a fighting-type. In a flash of light, Snorlax got sucked back into his Pokéball. To replace him, Jude released his Arcanine.

"Use Rock Slide!" said Tom.

"Roar!" said Jude, to which Tom immediately mouthed a cuss and became very tense. As Manny conjured a series of rocks, Arcanine opened his mouth and bellowed out a deep, deep Roar. Manny only had time to throw one rock, which Arcanine dodged; the Machamp then became white light and re-entered his Pokéball.

Where Manny had been, Charlie now appeared. He flew over the Spikes that appeared on the floor below him, but when the Stealth Rocks attacked him, it was brutal; his double-weakness to rock-type moves would be a huge obstacle in this fight.

"Roar!" said Jude.

"You cheap son of a…." Tom began. Then: "ExtremeSpeed!"

A fraction of a fraction of a second later, Charlie hit Arcanine with a mega-high-speed tackle. Arcanine got knocked backwards but continued his deep Roar. Charlie growled at his opponent intimidatingly as he became white light. Jude's expression was a bit incredulous. "What the heck!" he said as Charlie went back into his Pokéball. "Charizard can't learn ExtremeSpeed!"

"Mine can!" said Tom as Albert appeared on the battlefield, immediately having to deal with the rocks and spikes. "Disable!" Tom cried.

Arcanine began to Roar, but suddenly found that he was no longer able to. Tom sighed in relief and loosened up a bit. "That was a scare," he breathed.

Then he got another scare: "Crunch!" said Jude.

"Stay away!" Tom cried.

Albert swayed back and forth, moving unpredictably around the arena. Arcanine lunged at him… but then, just before his jaw enclosed Albert, the Alakazam disappeared. He had Teleported to a place behind Arcanine, from which he pointed and laughed as his opponent snapped his jaw shut on thin air. "Psychic!" said Tom, but Arcanine was already lunging at his foe again. Albert once again Teleported behind him and then blasted Arcanine with a wave of psychic energy.

"So you want to drag this out, huh?" said Jude. "Then Arcanine, use Toxic!"

"Kinesis!" said Tom.

Albert held out the spoon in his right hand (like all Alakazam, he held two spoons, one in each hand). Then he went through his routine; the spoon bent every which way in his hand, and he pointed at it and generally did all he could to draw Arcanine's attention to it. He continued doing this even when Arcanine spit a gooey black liquid at him. The liquid gradually sunk into Albert's skin; he was badly poisoned now, and it would only get worse as time passed. "Crunch!" Jude repeated.

"Twin formation, Psychic!" said Tom.

Arcanine lunged at his foe again… and once again, Albert Teleported away. Now he was in front of Arcanine – both of him. There appeared to be two Alberts. Both were flashing in and out of existence. Of course, there was still only one Albert – he was merely Teleporting rapidly between two locations. But Arcanine was confused for a second, and Albert used this second to hit his foe with a Psychic attack. Arcanine growled in pain and anger; he then ran toward one of the two Alberts. But both Alberts then disappeared and a single, solid one appeared a safe distance away. Albert spread his arms out and kneeled, as if to say "Ta-da!" He was clearly enjoying this much more than any of the other Pokémon.

"He can't keep Teleporting forever," said Jude. "Get him, Arcanine!"

Jude was right: eventually, Albert's ability to Teleport would tire out. This is probably why Tom did not use the "twin formation" again. Instead, he kept Albert Teleporting away from danger and then using Psychic instantly, if there was a chance to. Arcanine had his tremendous speed going for him; he flew at Albert in a motion that seemed instantaneous. But Albert was very fast too, even when he wasn't Teleporting. So the ensuing battle was very confusing. The two of them were attacking and dodging each other all over the arena, sometimes bringing the fight from one end of it to the other within a fraction of a second. Arcanine sunk his teeth into Albert and used Crunch either once or twice – it all happened too quickly to tell for sure. The second Crunch was very ambiguous. But Albert used Psychic on his foe several more times than that. Yet the poison was slowly weakening him, as well.

The two injured Pokémon stopped for just a moment and stared at each other. Then Albert extended his arm and, once again, pointed at his spastic spoon, wiggling his eyebrows. Arcanine growled at Albert, furious that his opponent thought so low of him as to believe this simple trick would work. He reached Albert in one fluid motion, opened his jaw, and bit into the Alakazam.

Stuffing came out of it.

The real Albert delivered one final, strong Psychic attack to Arcanine, who fainted with the doll in his mouth. His psychological trick had worked: Arcanine's brain had, despite his own will, become so focused on the spoon that it did not notice Albert replacing himself with a doll (kept in a compression capsule on his hold-item necklace) and Teleporting away. The switch had to be extremely fast and subtle to work, but Albert knew how to be both of these things. Albert, due mostly to the poisoning, was barely conscious at this point. He got on his knees and spread out his arms. Ta-da. Then he fainted.

Thomas Tasby 3, Judith Tutino 4.

Both trainers withdrew their unconscious Pokémon. "I hope you're done with your gimmicks now, Tom," said Jude. "This is starting to get silly."

Tom chuckled. "You really have no idea, Jude." They both took out a Pokéball. "Your turn, Umanda!"

"Go, Jolteon!"

The two Eevelutions faced each other from opposite ends of the arena. Umanda simply stood and bore the pain as the rocks and spikes attacker her. Tom saw his opportunity and took it: "Mean Look!"

"Thunder Wave!" said Jude.

Umanda stared intensely at Jolteon. Her eyes got dark for a second, and then the whole arena seemed to get darker for brief moment. As Umanda stared, Jolteon paralyzed her with static electricity. However, this may not have been a wise move – thanks to Umanda's special ability, Synchronize, Jolteon now found that he was paralyzed as well. And thanks to the Mean Look, Jolteon could not be switched out; he was stuck facing Umanda, a Pokémon whose special-defensive stats did not favor him. "Thunderbolt!" said Jude. "And keep it up!"

"Dark Pulse!" said Tom. Jolteon, although slowed by paralysis, was quick to shock Umanda with a Thunderbolt. Umanda then shot a beam of darkness at her foe… who outran it. He used another Thunderbolt on Umanda. Jude smiled. "You can't beat Jolteon when it comes to speed," he said. "Even when he's paralyzed."

Jude was certainly right about that. But as he spoke, Umanda was becoming encased in a dark aura. When fully-formed, it seemed to completely obliterate all light around the Umbreon, although she was still fully visible within it somehow. She was staring at Jolteon with pure rage in her eyes.

"Dark Revenge!" said Tom.

"Oh, _come on!_" Jude yelled.

And then Jolteon got hit by a wave of dark energy that he could not run from, simply because it was so big. The attack used Umanda as a starting point and then expanded, making her like the tip of a dark, dark cone. Jolteon was completely immersed in this cone for several seconds until it disappeared.

"Wait, wait, wait!" said Jude. "Time out for a second!" He waited a moment to make sure Tom complied. Tom gave Umanda no orders, and the two Eeveelutions simply stared at each other, deep loathing on both of their faces. "Okay, first of all, what the hell was _that_?"

"Didn't you hear me say it?" said Tom. "It's called Dark Revenge. Umanda fights best when she's pissed off!" I wondered if Tom realized he had cussed on live national T.V.

"Why are you doing this?" asked an irritated Jude. "Why are you fooling around? These aren't real moves. You aren't going to win a battle by just making shit up!" Jude, too, probably hadn't considered that he was cussing live on television. Such was the danger of staging a Championship battle between two fourteen-year-old boys. Incidentally, Jude's image, paired with the "making shit up" line, almost instantly became a meme on Pokémon trainer discussion boards on the Database. But that's neither here nor there.

"You still don't get it," Tom replied. "That's why you're going to lose, Jude – you never took that extra step. Good trainers go by the book. Great trainers, like you, use the book to as a starting point for their own vision. But the best trainers go one step even beyond that. They write a whole new chapter. I'm not playing it safe; I'm testing new, unexplored ground. And if you think there's something wrong with that – it's your problem, not mine."

"Bullshit! All you're doing is making up random crap in the middle of an important battle for both of us! I don't care how clever you think you are – you're not going to change the rules of Pokémon training with your weird gimmicks."

"They aren't just gimmicks, and I'm not trying to change anything. I'm taking what came before and adding to it."

"Well, your 'additions' are awful."

Tom smiled. "Maybe they are. Now's a good time to test that, right? If I win, my idea worked; if you win, maybe you were right."

"At least there's one thing we can agree on," Jude conceded, having calmed down a bit. "Now, since I called the time out, you can get things rolling again."

"Fine," said Tom, and he gave his next order – another Dark Pulse. It missed again, and Umanda got hit by another Thunderbolt. An enraged Umanda took some time to charge up – during which Jolteon used another Thunderbolt – and then unleashed the fury of Dark Revenge on her foe.

This pattern repeated itself again, with only a couple deviances. Firstly, Jolteon was too paralyzed to use the second Thunderbolt on time. Secondly, when the Dark Revenge ended, Tom gave Umanda another move to use: Moonlight. This move did not manifest itself physically, but Umanda gathered invisible lunar energy radiating in or near her location. This helped Umanda slowly recover slightly more than half of the damage she had taken.

The battle that ensued was relatively slow. Both Pokémon were paralyzed, and even if Jolteon was still super-fast in paralysis, this was inconsistently true. Once he failed to dodge a mere Dark Pulse; yet at another point, he successfully dodged a Dark Revenge. Umanda didn't bother trying to dodge the Thunderbolts – she knew it was futile – but she was absorbing them like a sponge. And she used Moonlight to recover herself twice more. The battle was also fairly predictable; it did not deviate wildly from the same, repeated pattern.

Jolteon's advantage was his speed: he could deliver attacks quickly and dodge some attacks, giving him a higher overall attack rate. But Umanda had a recovery move, and her individual attacks hurt Jolteon much more than his attacks hurt her. In the end, slow and steady (or rather, dark and angry) won the race. Umanda, at the brink of fainting, finished Jolteon off with one last Dark Revenge. As Jude withdrew Jolteon, Umanda used Moonlight again to heal herself some.

Tom 3, Jude 3.

Jude still looked quite irritated. He wordlessly sent out his next Pokémon: Snorlax. Though wounded from his battle with Ralph, he stood up, ate some of the Leftovers on his hold-item necklace, and looked nothing short of a force to be reckoned with. Especially to Umanda, who relied on special attacks. "Mean look!" said Tom.

Jude looked curious; given his extensive knowledge of advanced Pokémon training, though, he really ought to have known what was coming. "Body Slam!" he said.

Umanda was too paralyzed to run away as Snorlax fell on her, stomach-first. Umanda struggled to free herself from the weight that threatened to crush her, but Snorlax did stand back up eventually. At this point, he had become trapped, thanks to the Mean Look. It may seem strange that Tom was trying to keep Snorlax in the rink when this so clearly did not favor him; the effects of Mean Look would disappear entirely if he switched Pokémon now. But there was one exception to that rule. "Baton Pass!" Tom shouted.

Two beams of light simultaneously appeared; Umanda, who was turning into white light herself, served as their meeting point. One beam directed Umanda to her Pokéball; the other directed another Pokémon to Umanda. Three confusing seconds ensued, after which Umanda was no longer there, and Manny stood in her place. He once again had to face assault from the rocks and Spikes the moment he appeared.

It was the classic "Mean Pass" maneuver – the use of Baton Pass to transfer the effect of Mean Look while switching Pokémon. Snorlax was now trapped in a duel against a strong fighting-type. "Should've seen that coming," Jude quietly admitted. "Alright… Zen Headbutt!"

"Low Kick!" said Tom.

Both Pokémon ran toward their opponent, but Manny ran much, much faster. He slid under Snorlax, knocking the obese Pokémon's ankles with his feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. Snorlax looked like he was having trouble staying conscious at that point. He tried, slowly, to stand back up. Too slowly. Manny jumped over to his foe and knocked two of his fists into Snorlax's head. Snorlax finally let his consciousness slip. Manny triumphantly put one foot on his downed opponent's head and raised all four of his fists in the air. Then Snorlax became white light and went back into his Pokéball.

Tom 3, Jude 2.

Jude looked too intense for words as he sent out his next Pokémon: Skarmory. A physical wall – and a partly flying-type one, at that. Not good for Manny, but he did not look deterred. He cracked his knuckles and wore a face that looked ready for a challenge. Skarmory stared back with mean eyes. "Fly!" said Jude.

Skarmory spread her wings and flew up and up until she almost hit the ceiling, which was very high. "You know what to do, Manny," said Tom.

Jude scowled. "Now what is he up to?" he whispered.

Manny merely stood in wait. From the ceiling, Skarmory pointed her beak at Manny and then dived, fast, at him. Right when she reached him, however, Manny slid sideways, extended his four arms, and grabbed Skarmory's neck. Skarmory's razor-sharp beak still skid Manny's chest, giving him a long gash that leaked blood. But Manny did not let go of Skarmory, even as she continued flying. Manny's feet slid on the ground as Skarmory's flight dragged him forward, but his friction with the ground gradually slowed both of them down. Once they stopped, Manny swung Skarmory by the neck and then repeatedly smashed her against the ground. Skarmory struggled and struggled; she did not break free until she bore her talons into the gash on Manny's chest. She then flew as far from Manny as she could.

"Air Slash!" said Jude.

Skarmory flew a few feet into the air and then sliced the air with her sharp, metallic wings. This created blades of air that reached a distant Manny, who blocked them with his arms. The attack left cuts on Manny's arms, some of which bled. Manny dodged the next attack by jumping in the air; when he landed, he dodged again by jumping forward. Then he jumped into the air again, but this time he grabbed Skarmory's legs on the way up. Once his jump reached its zenith, Manny swung Skarmory by her legs and then threw her at the ground. He landed next to her a second later, but she flew away before he could grab her again.

While all of this happened, Tom spoke. "You think that what I've done is random? That I just made it all up from nowhere? You're wrong, Jude. These are all skills I _discovered_ by understanding my Pokémon. Pokémon aren't pawns on a board game; they aren't pieces of programming in a video game. Because this isn't a video game – it's real life, and Pokémon are living, complex beings. Too complex to really know what they're capable of – but the more you try to know and understand each one, the more you can know and understand its true potential."

"Why aren't you calling out any attacks?" said Jude, a bit nervously.

Skarmory kept on Air Slashing Manny, who again moved unpredictably (side to side this time) to dodge it while slowly getting closer to his target. Skarmory tried to fly away when Manny jumped at her, but Manny grabbed her neck just in time, swung her around, and threw her at the ground. Again she flew away.

"I told you," said Tom, smiling, "all Pokémon are different. Manny's different. I don't need to tell him what to do; I've already given him plenty of instructions, and he remembers them clearly. That's a skill of his I had to figure out on my own – nobody could teach me, and I couldn't look it up."

"Oh, get off your high horse," Jude muttered.

Again, Manny braved the sharpness in the air to reach Skarmory and throw her at the ground. Both of them were very battered and bruised at this point. "Finish him off with Fly!" said Jude.

Skarmory flew up to the ceiling. Manny stood in wait, his arms crossed in a guarding position. Then, in a silvery flash, Skarmory shot at him beak-first. Manny blocked the attack with his arms, but that didn't do much good; Skarmory's beak pierced a bloody hole into his arm, and her momentum knocked him right off his feet. Her steel body slammed into his face as he fell. Once on the ground, Manny did not attempt to get back up, or even move at all. Tom withdrew him.

Tom 2. Jude 2.

Both trainers now had rock-hard, serious looks on their faces. Tom released Charlie. The Stealth Rocks had at him. That was the second time this battle they had done so, and they really roughed him up, much more than any of Tom's other Pokémon. He ate the berry on his hold-item necklace; were it not for that, he might have been too weak to put up much of a fight.

Meanwhile, Jude had withdrawn Skarmory. Silently, he released Gengar. "Thunderbolt!" said Jude (having apparently taught that to his Gengar via T.M.).

"Dodge it!" said Tom, who was pretty sweaty at this point.

But dodging Thunderbolt is easier said than done, since electrical attacks are literally instantaneous. Gengar pointed his arm at Charlie, conducted electricity through it, and then zapped… the air, where Charlie had been. Charlie had flown in one swift motion from a point in front of Gengar to a point far behind him. "Fire Blast!" Tom ordered, and Charlie delivered. Gengar tried to float away from the advancing wall of flame, but it was simply too big. Once he had gotten through it, Gengar finally hit Charlie with a Thunderbolt. However, smoke rose from Gengar's body as he attacked; he had been burnt.

Charlie, amazingly, was not down yet. Nor was he down the next time Gengar tried Thunderbolt, which missed again, followed by another Fire Blast from Charlie. Gengar, now looking very pissed off, kept zapping the air until he finally shocked Charlie one last time. Charlie, who had been flying, fell to the ground and did not get back up. Tom withdrew him.

Tom 1. Jude 2.

Tom sent Umanda back out. No more small talk and chit-chat now; both trainers were focusing intently at the battle. The rocks and spikes on the battlefield assaulted Umanda, robbing her of the little strength she had left. She nibbled at the leftovers on her hold-item necklace, trying desperately to stay in the battle.

"Focus Blast!" said Jude, and Tom's pulse immediately rose. Gengar had been weakened, but Umanda was much weaker, and a strong fighting-type attack like Focus Blast would knock her out without question.

"Confuse Ray!" said Tom. Umanda stared at her foe, who was raising his arms and creating a large, glowing orb between them. Fortunately for Tom and Umanda, the move Focus Blast requires a lot of, well, focus. Gengar was concentrating on his target with all of his mental power. When he began swaying back and forth, it seemed that the confusion was beginning to hinder these efforts. "Dark Pulse!" Tom cried out. Gengar, intent on striking first, threw the ball of energy… nowhere close to Umanda. It hit the ground and disappeared. Umanda then hit her foe with a Dark Pulse. It knocked Gengar down, and when he got back up, he did not look like he could take much more.

"Oh, fuck it," said Jude (yet another televised cuss). "Use Sucker Punch!"

"Another Dark Pulse!" said Tom. As Tom spoke, Gengar disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared in front of Umanda, having punched her a split second earlier. Umanda then shot a beam of darkness at her foe at point-blank range. Gengar went tumbling backwards until he came to a face-down stop. He did not get back up. Jude withdrew him. Umanda nibbled on her leftovers.

1-1.

"It all ends here," Jude stated, taking out his last Pokéball.

"One way or the other," agreed Tom.

Skarmory reappeared on the battlefield at a point opposite from Umanda. Both Pokémon were now beaten, bruised, and exhausted. This would end quickly. A single move might take either of them out. They looked into each other's eyes. Tom and Jude focused intently on the battlefield. A black aura absorbed the light around Umanda. Then both trainers simultaneously called out their attacks.

"Dark Revenge!"

"Steel Wing!"

It was all over in about four seconds. Umanda blasted the wall of darkness at her opponent. Skarmory flew out of the darkness, reached Umanda, and sliced her with the piercing tips of her wings. While being sliced, Umanda re-directed her Dark Revenge to hit her opponent head-on. Umanda's attack knocked Skarmory off of her, but Skarmory's attack made Umanda's dark attack cease. Both of them stood, facing each other. Then they both collapsed.

Tom and Jude looked upon the scene in horror. Was it a double-KO? Was all of this going to end in a tie? That was unprecedented. Who would be Champion? I have no doubt that these questions ran through the trainers' minds as their (or at least Tom's) blood rate increased and breath came nearly to a stop.

Then, slowly, Umanda stood back up.

Tom let out a long, slow sigh as his body began cooling down. He shook both fists triumphantly. Jude quietly cussed.

Bruno spoke again, this time to announce that Tom had become the new Champion and that the sitting Champion was now to take him to the Hall of Fame. While Bruno spoke, Tom and Jude both walked down from their balconies onto the arena. Jude had withdrawn Skarmory, but Umanda was still out; she affectionately rubbed her head against Tom's leg when he reached her. Tom and Jude met in the center and shook hands. "Congratulations," said Jude. "You did some weird things there, but I guess they worked."

"Barely," added Tom. "Your team put up one heck of a fight."

They both looked up when they heard a banging noise from the glass wall separating them from the crowd. "Oh, sorry," said Tom, "that's… probably Peter."

* * *

Behind the noise-proof glass, the stands erupted with noise the moment Tom's victory was announced. People cheered and talked, and Peter banged his fists on the glass while shouting words of encouragement to Tom. "He can't hear you, idiot!" April explained to him for the umpteenth time, shouting over the noise.

"How do I get down there, then?"

"You can't," June explained. "Tom and Jude must go to the Hall of Fame now to make the handover of the Championship official."

"When will we get to see him, then?" Opal asked.

"Not for a long while, I'm afraid," answered the Governor (startling the kids again).

The noise was dying down now; the others in attendance were standing up and slowly making their way to the exits. The Governor stood up too. "It's time?" Samus asked.

"Indeed," said the Governor. Samus and Oak stood up with him.

"Time for what?" asked April.

"And what did you mean, 'not for a long while'?" asked June. "It shouldn't be more than half an hour."

"Normally, yes," the Governor replied. "But there is… business to take care of this time. Come, Samus and Professor Oak."

Samus looked at the kids in front of her, and a thought came to her. "Wait!" she said when the Governor and Oak began walking. They stopped. "Governor, what about Peter and April? After all they've done for us, I think they deserve to know what's going on here."

The Governor spent several seconds in thought. Peter and April, not to mention June and Opal, were obviously very confused, but none of them spoke. "Very well," the Governor concluded. "Mr. Embs, Miss Maywood, please come with us."

Peter and April said good-bye to June and Opal and then began walking behind Oak, Samus, and the Governor. "Um, where are we going, exactly?" asked April.

"To the Hall of Fame," Oak replied. "There's a backdoor that you can get to from these stands, if you have access… which we do, of course."

* * *

Tom followed Jude into the Hall of Fame. The dimly-lit room started out as an actual hall. Here, a red carpet lay over the tile floor. On the wall were large portraits of former Indigo League Champions; statues of legendary Pokémon filled the spaces between the portraits. Tom shifted his eyes between all of these portraits, letting them linger a little when he got to Red's.

The hallway led them to a long, rectangular room. Here awaited the large machine that would heal Tom's Pokémon and put them on record as being the team that won Tom the Championship. This machine was in the back of the room – but, to both Tom and Jude's surprise, there were others awaiting them in front of it. The Governor, Samus Aran, Professor Oak, Peter, and April, along with an Alakazam and a Xatu, all blocked Tom and Jude's path.

"Tom!" Peter shouted, and he immediately ran over for a high-five. "Way to go, man!" April walked over to high-five him too; Tom half-smiled, but he was clearly uncertain of what they were doing here.

"Excuse me, but… what's going on?" asked a surprised and confused Jude. "We're supposed to do this alone, or so I've been told."

"I apologize for interfering," said the Governor. "However, there is much at stake today, and little time to lose. Mr. Tasby, please grab onto either Tyson – that is the Alakazam you see here – or Jillian – that is the Xatu. They will Teleport us to our destination. Everything will be explained to you there. Mr. Tutino, I suggest that you join us as well."

"I'm… supposed to guide him through the transfer," said Jude. "Can we at least do that first?"

"Yeah," said Tom, "I'd like to get my Pokémon healed."

"Very well," said the Governor. "Proceed, and then we will leave."

Tom put his six Pokéballs in the six shallow depressions on the surface of the machine. Then he slid his Trainer Card through a slot. There was then a lot of beeping, and a lot of buzzing, and then a large screen on the wall above us lit up. A brief animation played that showed various facts gleaned from Tom's Trainer Card, showed pictures of Tom's Pokémon, and displayed "CONGRATULATIONS!" in large letters above it all. Tom's mood continually shifted between gratified and nervous, the latter likely relating to the group waiting behind him.

The animation finished. "Is that it?" asked Tom.

"Yeah, I think so," said Jude. "And your Pokémon should be all healed up now."

"Good," said the Governor. "Now, everyone, please put your hand on either Tyson or Jillian so that they may Teleport us to our destination."

They all complied; the Alakazam and Xatu soon found themselves surrounded, with four pairs of hands on the former and three on the latter. Before they left, Jude asked one last question: "Where exactly are we going, anyway?"

"To the headquarters," said the Governor, "of the Council of Psy."


	33. The Headquarters of the Council of Psy

It was dark and chilly.

Well, it wasn't completely dark yet, but the sun had mostly set and the first stars of the night were now shining in the purplish sky. The kids looked around to find a dense forest behind them, a calm lake in front of them, and a large log cabin next to them. The only sound to be heard was the soft hooting of the Hoothoot from the trees.

"Um, where are we now?" asked Tom.

"We're at the Lake of Rage," Professor Oak answered.

"Oh, I thought this place looked familiar!" April exclaimed. "I used to come here with my family during vacations… but I don't think I've ever been on this side of it."

"Yes," Oak said with a smile, "we actually chose this location for its remoteness. That and the natural beauty, I'd like to think, but it was probably just the remoteness. Believe it or not, the headquarters used to be in _my_ lab! Only a few years ago, too. But we decided that it wasn't secure enough. They're very secretive, the Council of Psy."

Tom looked out at the lake, which was filled with vegetation. The lake stretched very far to both the left and the right, and the shore opposite to us was somewhere beyond the horizon. The boy watched as a Venomoth fluttered over the lake, and then a Gyarados splashed up from beneath it, ate the creature whole, and submerged again with another splash. Tom was unmoved.

"Professor," said Tom, "what's going on here? Why am I here, and what's the Council of Psy?"

Oak kept on the smile he'd been wearing. "As the Governor said," he replied, "all will be explained to you shortly. By the way, Thomas, did I forget to congratulate you on your victory? It was well-earned. I've seen nearly every Champion battle to date, but I can't recall any being as exciting as that one. I'm proud to have given both of you your Trainer Cards and Pokédexes." Tom and Jude thanked the Professor.

Meanwhile, the Governor knocked on the cabin's door. A tiny slit on the door opened, revealing a pair of eyes on the other side. "Password?" asked the owner of these eyes.

The Governor whispered, "Level 9001 Magikarp."

The door opened. The Governor led everyone inside.

The log cabin consisted of only one big, long room. It looked like a private vacation home that had been hastily transformed into an office. Most of it, with all the trinkets on the wall and bagged food in the kitchen, still looked homey. But everyone's eyes were drawn to one part of it, the part with the long, long office table. More than a dozen psychic-type Pokémon sat at this table – or stood, if chairs did not suit them. Three humans were sitting there, too: Professors Elm, Birch, and Rowan. At the furthest end of the long table were three chairs that were noticeably larger and fancier than the others. Deoxys sat at the rightmost of these; Mew sat on the leftmost one. The Governor walked up to the middle seat and sat down on it. There were a few empty chairs, but nobody moved to take them, aware that there wasn't enough to seat all of them and unsure of who should get to sit.

"You did not tell us you would bring this many, Mariam," said Deoxys, who sounded just as impatient as the last time Samus saw him. "How will we make room?"

"It will be a little crowded, but we will make do," said the Governor. "There are extra chairs in the kitchen; anyone without a place to sit may bring one from there." The people (and Pokémon) who had just come inside scrambled to get chairs. "Also," the Governor added, "as I have told you on several other occasions, my name is Maurice."

"I knew you by your original name for most of our lives," Deoxys retorted. "That is how I still think of you and that is what I will call you."

"No offense, Governor," said Tyson the Alakazam, "but 'Maurice' really isn't much of an improvement." (Tom was a bit surprised to find that this Alakazam could talk).

"It is still better," said the Governor, "than Mariam." This was the angriest Samus had ever seen the Governor, which is to say that he almost seemed mildly irritated.

Everyone was now seated at the table, though it was quite crowded and they were practically shoulder-to-shoulder. Nevertheless, the meeting then began in a very official manner. The Governor welcomed everyone and then had Mew do the roll call. Mew called out the names of all the Pokémon in attendance, including a Hypno, a Mr. Mime, a Grumpig, an Espion, two Gardevior, and many other psychic Pokémon. These Pokémon all telepathically confirmed that they were present; Tom seemed intrigued to hear all of these Pokémon speak Standard.

"Now it is time to discuss the purpose of this gathering," said the Governor. "Today, Thomas Tasby defeated Judith Tutino in a battle for the Championship of the Indigo branch of the Pokémon League. We now cannot hold any doubt that Mr. Tasby is the one foreseen to fend off the catastrophe."

"What?" Tom exclaimed in a mix of surprise and incomprehension. The other three trainers wore faces expressing this same mixture.

"Deoxys," said the Governor, "would you please enlighten Mr. Tasby and his friends?"

"If you insist," said Deoxys. He stared at the four teenagers huddled on the other end of the table as he spoke. "Undoubtedly, you are all wondering what it is that you are attending. I will give you a brief summary. The Council of Psy was formed three decades ago by a coalition of elite psychic-type Pokémon and a small number of humans. We do many things, only one of which you need concern yourself with: we attempt to see the future.

"Now, in this universe, there are no fixed paths; anything and everything is subject to change. This makes future prediction quite difficult, and the future can never be determined with certitude. But the combined minds of us at the Council of Psy have gleaned as much knowledge of our universe – past, present, and future – as we were able. And while our future predictions are both unspecific and uncertain, we saw a single vague catastrophic event approaching us in the vast majority of possible futures we observed. Though today we know its true form, back then we saw it only as darkness… and the darkness would come soon. However, in a sizeable portion of these possible futures, we saw that a hero from Pocket would help defeat the darkness. If we could find this hero and ensure that the person was the one likeliest to succeed, it would drastically improve our chances of averting a terrible disaster.

"We consulted the position of the stars, the directions of the wind, the changes in the climate, the affairs of humans… we observed many things. With strong psychic powers, one can use this seemingly irrelevant information to extrapolate, for everything is connected in the end. We navigated this series of connections with our minds in an attempt to find the foreseen hero. And we saw that this hero, should he exist, was in all likeliness a child living in Pallet Town… we did not know which child, so we observed them all until the picture became clearer to us. The child with the greatest probability, by a large margin, of being the foretold hero… was you, Thomas Tasby."

Tom's bloodstream fired up. But Deoxys was not finished. "However, as I said before, there is never certainty in these predictions. There was a nontrivial chance that it would be someone else… and of this subset, the most likely candidate, by far, was Judith Tutino." Jude wore an expression that was hard to decipher; it was not quite indifferent, but it was not shocked, either. "The contributions that both of you made during the war against the Space Pirates strengthened our conviction that the prophesied hero would be one of you two. And now Tasby has defeated Tutino in battle, proving that it is he, if anyone, who can save our universe from the darkness."

Deoxys paused. "So…" Tom began, "…are you going to explain what this 'darkness' is?"

"Well, that should be obvious, right?" said Mew.

"A-hem," said Deoxys, despite having no ability or need to clear his throat.

"Oh, sorry!" Mew quickly apologized. "I should not have spoken out of turn. Please, keep going!"

"No, I insist," replied Deoxys, whose tone did not sound as friendly as his words. "You explain it."

"Oh, okay." Mew now addressed Tom. "Well, do you remember all those things Arceus told you at the Hall of Origin? There was a whole lotta really, really useful information in there for the Council, for a whole bunch of reasons. And one of those is that we finally figured out the form of that darkness we kept foreseeing. You've figured it out by now, right? Arceus said that if we don't get rid of the Leviathan Seed on Oscelon, all life in the universe could be destroyed! And on top of that, Mewtwo is gonna try to protect the Seed and find another way to control Oscelon. So in order to save the universe, someone's gotta get rid of Mewtwo and destroy the Seed."

"And you expect me to do that?" said a slightly panicked Tom. "On my own?"

"Not on your own, no," said Samus. "I'll be there too. Truth be told, I wanted to do it on my own… but this is too big, too important a mission to entrust to just one person. It's going to be you and me, together."

Tom was red all over, and his hands were shaking slightly. "Are you sure that it's me? Of all the trainers on Pocket, am I really the best choice for this? I mean, I know I'm a Champion now, but… I'm not sure if I'm the best trainer on the whole planet."

"Silly human," said a female Espeon named Nix, "can you really not answer that for yourself? You have been fighting this battle since the moment the Space Pirates arrived. No other Pokémon trainer has been as heavily involved in this conflict as you have. Whether you are the absolute best trainer on the planet is both impossible to measure and irrelevant. You're one of the best, one of the best of the best, and you are already invested in the struggle that we now wish to end. Of course you are the one most suited for this mission!"

"I am afraid we may be forgetting something," said the Governor (or Maurice, or whatever). "I refer to Mr. Tasby's consent. We speak as if he has already made up his mind. However, I have no intention of forcing a fourteen-year-old boy to fight a battle he does not wish to take part in. Thomas, do you accept this mission to go to Oscelon and fight to destroy the evil that inhabits it?"

"You wish to risk the fate of the universe on the consent of a single child?" Deoxys asked incredulously. "His preference is not of our concern. We are trying to save all life in the universe, Mariam!"

"Now, comrade…" the Governor began.

"No, it's okay," Tom interrupted. "I'll go. How can I not go? I'd never forgive myself."

"Now wait just a moment," said Peter, his voice raised. "Why does it have to be Tom and _just_ Tom, huh? All four of us were up there on Spear Pillar, fighting with Samus to kill off the Space Pirates. Why can't we come, too?"

"That's right," April agreed. "Even if our Pokémon aren't as strong as Tom's, we can at least help him out." Jude merely continued staring forward with the same blank expression he'd been wearing for several minutes.

"Sorry, guys," Samus replied, "but that won't work this time. This isn't like a large-scale battle where larger numbers is always better. No, where Tom and I are going, if a Pokémon isn't strong enough, it'll die quickly, and there's a chance it'll get in the way of the others first. And the more people we have to worry about, more opportunities there are for holdups. I'm sorry, but there isn't much you can do; you'd only get in the way." Peter sighed; he and April looked somewhat downcast.

"So, um… how are we supposed to get to Oscelon, anyway?" asked Tom.

"Ah, he finally asks!" said Professor Birch. He looked toward the three Chairmon. "Is it time to show them?"

"Yes," said the Governor, "I believe it is. Come, all; let us go outside."

* * *

Outside, the Council led their guests through the forest behind the cabin until they reached a small clearing where there were no trees. The Professors all held flashlights to help everyone get through the darkness, although the moon was almost full, which made it much less dark. When they got to the clearing, the group spread out in a circle that surrounded the area. The kids all found a tree to lean against, but everyone else stood upright.

"Are we set, then?" Rowan called out. "Brace yourselves, all, especially you young ones. What you are about to see is not a sight you are accustomed to." And then he opened a Pokéball in his hand. The light that beamed out of the Pokéball filled up almost the entire circle of people and Pokémon. It was nearly as tall as the log cabin we had just left. When it solidified, the Professors shone their flashlight at it to reveal a brown, round creature with wrinkled skin reminiscent of construction paper. There were two jagged, wing-like protrusions on its back. A white halo floated eerily above its head.

"Wait a moment… that's…" Tom began, disbelievingly.

"But… Impossible! That's a…" Jude stuttered with equal disbelief.

"If you were about to say 'Shedinja'," said Professor Oak as he walked closer to the kids, "you're correct. What you see before you is a twenty-foot-tall Shedinja. As Professor Rowan said, it's not a common sight."

"No kidding," April mouthed.

"But… why?" Tom managed to ask.

"Maybe Professor Elm ought to explain that to you," said Oak. "It was mostly thanks to his research that we could make it get this size."

"Oh, no… not really," said Elm, blushing, as he walked toward the kids from the other side of the enormous Shedinja. "It was all of our work… I just had that one breakthrough. But anyway. So you know how Shedinja are… well… okay, let me try again. Remember, Arceus told you that when a Pokémon enters a Pokéball, it gets sent to Oscelon. And when it evolves, it gets sent to Oscelon, too. So Shedinja… well, you must understand, it's a very unique Pokémon. When a Nincada evolves into a Ninjask, a Shedinja will appear in an empty Pokéball of the Nincada's trainer. Presumably, the Nincada's discarded shell gets sent to the same place in Oscelon that the Pokéball would take it to. What you must understand, however, is that Shedinja… it's complicated, but you see, it is the shed skin of a Nincada – and nothing more. Shedinja is empty, and continues to be empty even after leaving its Pokéball.

"The gist of it is this: there is a hole in Shedinja's back, the one that a myth says will steal your soul if you look into it. But the reality is, that hole is a portal to Oscelon. The hollow space inside Shedinja, you see, is the _same_ hollow space whether it is inside its Pokéball or not."

"We've known this for quite some time," said Oak. "Many years ago, we weren't having much success in our attempts to research the place Pokémon get sent to by their Pokéballs. Then we made the important discovery that Professor Elm just explained to you. We've been sending probes into the backs of Shedinja ever since. However, the small probes we could fit in there could only give us so much information. So we tried to create a larger Shedinja. We only recently succeeded at this. As time passed, we continued growing them bigger and bigger in order to fit more complex probes inside. But here's why this matters to you: this Shedinja is large enough for you to walk into its back and go straight to the inside of Oscelon."

"Precisely," the Governor agreed. "However, the Leviathan Seed is your ultimate destination, and that is on the exterior of Oscelon, not the interior. To reach the Seed, you will need to navigate your way through Oscelon's interior until you reach its skin."

"It won't be easy," said Samus, who had already been told all of this. "Even with all the probes they've sent, we're only going to know part of the way there. The rest, we'll have to figure out ourselves. There's no guarantee we'll ever reach the Seed. And if we do reach it… I'm not going to sugarcoat this: there's no guarantee that either of us will ever come back. I just want to make sure you're ready for the worst." She looked Tom in the eye. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Tom gulped, but he nodded. "So, um… we're not going right away, are we?"

Tyson laughed. "Goodness, no!" he said. "We are not so cruel."

"You will have one night to rest," said Jillian the Xatu. "Tomorrow morning at six, you will meet us here again. We will inform you of further details then."

"But if there's anything else you wanna know now," said Mew, "feel free to ask!"

"Um, okay," said Tom. "Can I… tell anyone about this?"

"Absolutely," said the Governor. "You may tell anyone you'd like. Although we do not plan on revealing this mission to the public, we also see no point in keeping it completely confidential. I suggest that you tell your loved ones where you will be and say your good-byes to them before tomorrow morning. Although I do not want to admit it, there is… a chance that you will not see them again." Tom nodded slowly.

"Any further questions?" the Governor asked.

"Hey, uh, I have a question," said Peter. "Are you _sure_ there's nothing we can do to help? I mean, even if we don't actually go with Tom or Samus, it'd suck to be _completely_ useless."

"The boy may have a point," Deoxys said to Mew and the Governor. "A contribution from the others may improve our odds."

The governor motioned the other psychic-type Pokémon to come closer. They obliged, and soon there were humans standing on one side of the Shedinja and Pokémon on the other. The Pokémon huddled together, quietly discussing something, while the humans looked upon them curiously. Finally, the Pokémon spread out again, and the Governor walked closer to the humans. "We will consider your options tonight," the Governor told Peter. "Mr. Embs, Miss Maywood, Mr. Tutino – meet us tomorrow morning at some point earlier than six so we may tell you our decision. There may be something you can do to help, but first we must decide what, and whether it will improve Mr. Tasby's and Miss Aran's chances of success." Peter seemed satisfied with this answer.

"Do you have anything else to ask?" asked the Governor. Tom bit his lip, thinking, and then shook his head. "Very well, then. This meeting is adjourned. The nine humans attending may use Tyson and Jillian to Teleport you to a destination of your choice. Everyone else, rejoin me in the cabin. We will discuss further possibilities in there."

Most of the psychic-type Pokémon then walked back into the forest, talking amongst themselves as they went. Tyson and Jillian stayed behind. Samus, Peter, and April put their hands on Tyson; the four Professors put their hands on Jillian. Tom and Jude did not move.

"I have a Teleporting Pokémon of my own, actually," said Tom. "I think I'd prefer to use him instead – no offense or anything."

"None taken," said Tyson.

"And I'd rather fly away on my Skarmory,"said Jude.

"If you insist," said Tyson. "Is everyone else ready?"

They were. Peter and April said good-bye to Tom and assured him that they'd be there with him when he left tomorrow morning. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were all gone. Tom and Jude were the only ones left in that dark opening in the forest, and now there was only moonlight to see each other by. The two boys simply stood there, awkwardly, for about half a minute.

"Aren't you going to leave?" Tom asked.

"I was waiting to see if you'd leave first," Jude replied.

"Nah," said Tom. "I was gonna stay here for a little while, actually. I don't feel like moving at the moment."

Jude nodded. He smiled. "I'm an idiot, you know that?" he said.

Tom looked at Jude with a raised eyebrow. "Not that I'm arguing, but… what prompts you to say that?"

Jude leaned back against a tree behind him. Tom did the same. "Because I just got a perfect score on the moron test," said Jude, still half-smiling. "You know, the Council of Psy used to have their headquarters in Professor Oak's lab."

"Yeah, I know. He told us that when we got here."

"Yes, but I already knew it before."

Tom crossed his arms. Jude did the same. "What in the world are you talking about?" Tom asked.

Jude took a deep breath. He looked at his feet. "I didn't want to believe what I'd heard. Over time I convinced myself that it was just a dream, or some imaginary game I made up – you know how little kids are, the real world and imaginary one both seem the same to them. I've been in that state of denial for about eight years now. But tonight, everything they told us just hit me in the face and beat me out of any delusions that what I heard when I was six years old wasn't real."

Tom stared at Jude, who continued staring at his feet as he spoke. "Apparently the Council wasn't so careful about security back then. A window was open – just a crack, but it was enough. I decided to listen through that crack to see why the lab had closed. I loved going into Professor Oak's lab – he always had something cool to show me about Pokémon – and I hated how it closed sometimes for no apparent reason when it would normally be open. So I crouched below the window and put my ear up to the crack.

"I could tell right away that Pokémon were talking, even though I couldn't see them. I dunno, telepathic Pokémon just sound different from human speech – it's a sound you feel rather than one you hear. I heard these Pokémon talking, and every once in a while a human would talk too, and I even recognized Professor Oak's voice at one point. I didn't understand what they were talking about, and I've forgotten most of it by now. But there's one thing they said that I never, ever forgot. 'It will probably be the Tasby child,' one of the Pokémon said. 'All of the evidence suggests that it will be him.'

"Then I heard another Pokémon say, 'We cannot be so certain. There are still signs that it may be one of the others. The Tutino child, in particular, shows some promise.'

"Then, the way I remember it, a third Pokémon spoke up. That Pokémon said, 'Those chances are minimal, at best. No, it will almost certainly be the Tasby child. It appears that he is destined to be the very best, like no one ever was. He will probably be the one who saves us all.' That's what I remember them saying, anyway; something like that.

"Well, I stopped listening then and there. I remember running away from the lab in a fit of rage. Ever since I learned about Pokémon training, I was convinced that _I_ would be the best at it someday. I felt like I deserved to be the best at everything… it sounds snobby when I put it that way, but it's mostly true. And with Pokémon training, it was especially true. And you, to me, were just some loser not even worth talking to. I couldn't _believe_ that you, of all people, were the most likely to be the best trainer. That was my destiny, not yours. So after that day, every time I looked at you all I could feel was hate. For a while I felt disgusted just by seeing your face. That must be why I've been such an ass to you all this time."

Tom was in a state of shock. A shiver went down his spine. "You… knew? All this time?"

"Sort of," Jude answered. "I always knew in the back of my mind. I quickly told myself that I'd misheard, and when I got older it became easier to think that it had never really happened. Somehow, though, that never stopped me from hating the very sight of you." He snorted. "I was just a jealous idiot."

"_You_ were jealous?" Tom snapped, his disbelief driving him into a fit. "_You_ were jealous of _me_? Are you freaking kidding me? I spent my whole goddamn childhood wishing I was you! You were talented at everything you did, you had two living parents, and you always knew exactly what to say to make people like you. Everyone wanted to be around you, and I was always alone, just me and my mom." He took a deep breath, calming him down slightly. Now he spoke slower, more lightly. "I hated you, and I wanted to think that you were the cause of all my problems, just so I could pin it down on one person. I might have just been afraid that if I didn't, I'd end up blaming myself. Basically… I was a jealous idiot, too."

Jude began chuckling. The chuckle became a laugh, which gradually got louder and louder. Tom merely smiled. Jude finished his laughter with a sigh. "We're both idiots, you know that? The two of us are top-tier dunces."

Tom continued smiling. "Maybe," he said. "Hey, Jude… did I ever apologize for killing your Skitty?"

Jude snorted again. "Of course you did," he said. "Tons of times. Not that I ever listened. And you didn't kill her. I know you didn't mean for her to die."

"Well, I'm sorry, again."

"Don't be. It doesn't matter anymore."

They looked each other in the eye, which made them both feel awkward, so they looked up at the rising moon instead. Tom looked back down when he heard Skarmory exiting her Pokéball. Jude rubbed his fainted Skarmory's back as he took out a Revive. He fed it to her, and a minute later, she was up and ready to go. "Well, Tom," Jude said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning." After a brief pause, the two boys walked over to each other and shook hands. "Good luck in there. I hope you don't need it."

"Thanks," said Tom. "I'll be seeing you."

And then Tom watched as Jude got on Skarmory's back and flew away into the night sky.

* * *

Tom spent the next half-hour alone in that little hole in the woods. He leaned against a tree and looked up at the stars; occasionally he would pace around and then find another tree to lean against. He had goose bumps and shivers that I think were totally unrelated to the cold. His pulse and breathing patterns were erratic and unpredictable.

After half an hour of that, Tom did not take Albert out to Teleport away. Instead, he walked back through the woods, using me as a flashlight, until he reached the log cabin. Nervously, he walked up to the door. After hesitating for several seconds, he knocked.

A slit opened, revealing a pair of eyes behind the door. "Password?" asked the Hypno, whose name was Sigmund.

"Um… uh…" Tom stuttered. It became clear to me that he hadn't heard the password. Once again I'd have to compensate for his ignorance.

"Level 9001 Magikarp," I said, to Tom's surprise. The door to the cabin opened, and Tom stepped inside.

Most members of the Council of Psy were still there, but only about half of them sat at the table. The rest were in the kitchen, on the couches, or in the case of Nix the Espeon, sleeping on the floor. They were working overtime in a lakeside vacation home; they no longer had the patience for formality. For some reason, the Governor was not present.

"Oh, hello, Tom!" Mew greeted him. "We didn't expect to see you here again. Not that we mind! But is there any particular reason you came to visit?"

"I was just… curious about something," said Tom. "Um, well… you said that you can't predict the future for sure, but you can see the probabilities of certain events, right?"

"To an extent, yes," said Tyson, who was pouring himself a bowl of Pokémon food in the kitchen. "There is margin for error and some other ambiguities, but yes, your description is mostly accurate."

"I've just been wondering…" said Tom, "…do you know what my odds are of getting through this mission alive?"

Many of the Pokémon who had been looking at Tom now turned away, shifting their focus back on whatever it was they had been doing. Others, including Mew and Tyson, looked at each other nervously. Tyson looked back at Tom and spoke. "We have calculated the mission's chance of success to the best of our ability. We have determined that the probability that you and Samus will succeed is slightly greater than even. In other words, just above fifty percent."

Tom nodded. "That's good, I guess. But even if we succeed, there's a chance that I'll die in the process, right?"

Tyson wagged his finger at Tom; he seemed somewhat impressed and almost amused. "You are a clever one," he said. "I can see why you have made it so far. Yes, your personal chances of survival are not the same as the chances of the mission's success." Now he did not seem so amused. "We have estimated a ten percent chance that you will both die and succeed at eliminating Mewtwo and the Seed."

"So… that puts the odds that I'll be alive after tomorrow at just over forty percent," said Tom, stating the obvious. "The odds that I'll die are… almost sixty percent."

"I am sorry, Tom," Mew said softly. "I had hoped that you wouldn't find out."

"No, it's okay," said Tom. "I'm glad I know… I think I am, anyway. And a four-in-ten chance is good enough for me. I think I can make it… at least… I hope." He turned away. "That's all I wanted to know. Thanks, everyone. I appreciate it." He walked over to the door. "See you all tomorrow."

* * *

Albert used Teleport to bring Tom back to Indigo Plateau. Almost immediately after entering the Pokémon League building, he found himself in his mother's embrace. She was clearly holding back tears. Apparently, Peter and April had told her – as well as June and Opal – about everything. That saved Tom a lot of trouble.

When Tom's mother let go, the six of them – Tom, his mother, Peter, April, Opal, and June – stood in a circle and talked. They talked about what the inside of Oscelon might look like, what Tom might see there, how he felt about going there (but Tom only shrugged), how odd the thing about Shedinja was, how odd that there was a great big chunk of space dedicated solely to incarnations of video games ("It'll be like going to the arcade!" Peter suggested), etc. They did not talk about Mewtwo or Phazon. They had to talk in hushed whispers the whole time, however – they were not the only people in the room.

"This feels weird," Peter said at one point. "Is there anywhere more private we can talk at?"

"We can go anywhere, really," said Tom. "From here, Albert can Teleport us to anywhere in Kanto or Johto he's been before."

"Yeah, Gardevoir too," added April.

"Hey, guys," said Peter, "why don't we go back to Goldenrod? Most of us have homes there anyway – man, I could really use a night in my own room again. And Tom could sleep in my room too, just like last time he came! And Ms. Tasby could…."

Ms. Tasby smiled and shook her head. "I don't want to intrude," she said. "And I have a room waiting here, anyway."

"Mom…" Tom whispered. He seemed upset for a moment. He stepped closer to his mother, putting him inches away from her. "Mom… do you want to be there when I leave tomorrow? I could come here with Albert first, and then he could take both of us there."

Ms. Tasby continued smiling, but the smile had lost some of its melancholy. "I'd love that, Thomas. Thank you." They hugged again.

June decided to stay behind too. He and Ms. Tasby said their good-byes to the others. Then Tom and Peter clung to Albert while April and Opal clung to Gardevoir, and the two psychic-type Pokémon teleported them elsewhere.

* * *

Specifically, they were now in the field behind the Maywoods' and Embs' houses. The same field where Tom and Opal had battled their Pokémon several weeks ago. It was slightly warmer here than at either Indigo Plateau or the Lake of Rage; it was, after all, further south. Opal mentioned that she and Tom had battled here. This started a long, unending conversation between the four of them that went pretty much everywhere. They talked about the past nostalgically; they talked about the present, and how different things had become; they talked about the future, carefully stepping around the darker details. Eventually, Tom let Manny out of his Pokéball to let him join the conversation. This was the first time Opal learned about the talking Machamp, and she was so excited that I was honestly worried about heart failure. She went through the standard set of questions that Manny was certainly used to by that point, but was happy to answer anyway. And this time, he really had actual answers.

Even though it was dark out, and their primary sources of light were the moon and the houses around them, they sat in that field and just kept talking. As it got later, however, the pace of the conversation got slower. And then, finally it came to a stop.

The four teenagers and one Machamp looked around at each other. "…It's getting late," April noted. "I guess I should be going now." They exchanged good-byes, and then April walked over to her nearby house. Tom quietly withdrew Manny.

"Should we go inside too?" asked Peter. "Man, my parents will be really surprised to see us!"

Tom hesitated. I could feel some traces of anxiety in him. "You go ahead," he said. "I… just want to take a walk right now." This is speculation, but I think he just didn't want to face more people at that moment. Every time he faced another person aware of his situation, he became more uncomfortable. And if the Embs' parents remained ignorant of his situation, it might arguably make him even more uncomfortable to talk to them.

"Wow, really?" said Peter. "Okay, I guess… will you still come to sleep in my room tonight?"

"Maybe… probably," Tom answered. He rubbed his forehead. "I don't know. I don't even know what I want right now."

"Hey – it'll be okay, man," Peter said reassuringly. "You'll make it through this. I know you will." He waved his hand good-bye. "See you later tonight. Or tomorrow morning – your choice, I guess." Then he turned around and started walking toward his home.

Peter stopped walking half-way to his house. He turned around, apparently just realizing that Opal wasn't with him. He opened his mouth to ask her why… and then he closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, and turned back around. He then walked the rest of the way to the house.

That left Tom and April alone in the field. I felt the blood rushing to the boy's face. "Um, Opal… you wanna walk to the National Park with me?"

Opal's face was equally red, although Tom probably couldn't see this in the pale moonlight. "Yeah, sure," she said.

They began walking beside the houses. "So, uh, have you gotten any badges yet?" asked Tom.

"No," said Opal, "I don't think my Pokémon are ready for that yet. I chose weird Pokémon because I wanted to be different… I don't think it's helped me win any battles though." Her speech was unusually slow and quiet – for her, at least.

"Well, everything always seems weird to people at first," said Tom. "Then someone figures out that something 'weird' is actually better than what's 'normal', and it becomes the new normal. But that never happens if you don't have people willing to try out weird things."

"So you… you don't mind that I'm a little weird sometimes?"

"Not at all. You're, um…." Tom's pulse increased dramatically. "I mean, if I liked normal quiet stuff, I'd never have gotten involved in all the craziness I've gotten myself into. You're… different. I like that." Opal put her hands over her mouth to stifle a high-pitch noise that I can only accurately describe as a "squee".

They walked along the streets of Goldenrod City, the occasional streetlamp helping to light their way. For a short while they were quiet. Tom looked at his hand and Opal's hand, and for a moment he became very tense. Then he clenched his teeth and, in spite of the anxiety, grabbed Opal's hand with his own. Opal reacted by walking closer until their arms were touching. Tom let out a deep breath and suddenly became much more relaxed. I, however, was starting to feel uncomfortable. I don't think Tom remembered that I was right there in his pocket.

"I still don't really know about everything you've been through," said Opal. "I've heard some of it from Peter and April but… what exactly have you been up to this past month? Because it sounds like you've done some _really_ awesome stuff."

Tom hesitated. "Well… I mean, it's probably nothing you haven't already heard," he said. "But if you really want to know, um… let's see… well, I first saw the Space Pirates in Mt. Moon…."

And so he talked. And talked. He was nervous and hesitant at first, but as he spoke he became more confident and started going into more detail. And then he wouldn't shut up. They reached Route 35 and then began walking up its wide dirt path that cut through even wider grass fields. Tom told Opal everything throughout the whole walk to the National Park.

They had barely entered the park when Tom finally finished talking. "Amazing," Opal said in awe. "That was all so incredible. You're amazing, Tom."

"I… only did what I needed to," Tom replied. But I could feel his heart rate going wild and could tell how pleased with himself he felt.

They sat on a bench that wasn't close to any of the streetlamps, so the large moon above them was their primary source of light. Opal leaned her head on Tom's shoulder, inciting all sorts of hormones to be let loose into Tom's system. I became increasingly uncomfortable. Tom put his arm around Opal. He now felt more content than in all the time I had known him. Still, why couldn't he remember that I was _right there_?

"I feel so calm when I'm with you," said Opal. "Usually I feel like I have all this energy that I can't get out and if I stay still for too long I'll burst. But not now. Not with you here." She looked deep into his brown eyes, and he looked deep into her blue eyes.

I'd had enough. This was getting ridiculous. Never before had I used my emergency mechanical limbs, but in this case it was either that or be forced to witness Tom and Opal's lovey-dovey moment. My little metallic feet popped out of their sockets, allowing me to carefully climb my way out of Tom's pocket without disturbing him. I was just in time, too – Tom and Opal's faces were now on a collision course, their eyes slowly closing. I did not want to watch this. I hated how Tom always forgot about my presence. He seemed convinced that he and Opal were all alone.

I cautiously jumped from Tom's shirt to the edge of the bench, and then from there to the ground below. Tom's lips were brushing against Opal's now. I felt more than a little disturbed to be present during this bizarre human saliva-exchanging ritual. I scuttled away into the nearby trees. I'll admit to being quite angry at the boy for forgetting about me. One thing cheered me up, though. Right when their lips met, a wild Chatot perched atop the bench, put its beak up to their faces, and screamed at the top of its lungs: "PENIS!"

* * *

Samus sat with her arms crossed on her knees and her head resting on her arms. She was by the shore of the Lake of Rage, although the headquarters of the Council of Psy was nowhere in sight. The calm lake in front of her reflected the light of the huge moon above her. Samus could not recall ever visiting a planet with a moon that appeared so large. Clef, Samus noticed, was very nearly full. Soon it would be full again, completing the cycle that began when she landed on this planet.

Samus sighed. She felt awful. Normally, the risk she faced in a mission was her own life. She could handle that. But in this upcoming mission, failure would mean another person's death, too. And he was barely a teenager. Samus really preferred to work alone. That was not the only reason she felt so miserable, however….

"You seem to be deep in thought," said a voice behind her. "I hope I am not bothering you by intruding."

Samus turned her head. "Governor?"

The Governor slowly shook his head. "We have known each other for some time now, Samus," he said. "And I have come here to see you only as a friend, not for business. I believe that it is now acceptable and proper to call me by my first name: Maurice."

"I was wondering about that, actually," said Samus. "If that's your name, how come Deoxys and Lugia called you Mariam?"

Samus could feel the Governor's – or rather, Maurice's – embarrassment. "I was captured many years ago," he explained, "by one of the very first Pokémon trainers. Back then, the humans here had not yet learned how to identify the sex of a Pokémon. My trainer assumed that I was female and named me Mariam. It is a name I kept most of my life… for the most part, I had no choice, for only later were Pokémon granted the ability to legally change their own name. Eventually I could not stand it any longer and had my name changed to Maurice. But many still only know me by my original name… such as Lugia, whom I had not seen in some time."

"And Deoxys?"

"Ah, yes, Deoxys. He is what you might call… well, Deoxys is…."

"An ass?"

"I was not going to use that terminology. But yes."

Samus could not help but smile. She could see why he preferred to simply be called "Governor". The Gov… er, Maurice walked until he was standing next to her. They both stared at the moon and at the moon's reflection in the lake. "I can tell that something is troubling you, Samus," said Maurice. "Perhaps it is none of my business. Then again, should your mood have an effect on your progress tomorrow, perhaps it is. I hope I am not adding to your troubles by asking, but would you mind letting me know why you seem so distressed?"

Samus shifted her eyes between the moon in the sky and the moon in the water. Then she looked away from the moon to see the visible stars in the night sky. She would somewhere way far away in space tomorrow, like them. And then she admitted something that she'd been afraid to admit to herself. "I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can win tomorrow. I'm going to die up there, and so is Tom because I won't be strong enough to protect him." She shivered a little.

Maurice was caught by surprise. "Samus, it is so unlike you to say such things. After all that you have accomplished, after doing so many things that everyone else thought would be impossible for a single human being to do… why do you think that you will fail now?"

"Because those were just games," Samus told him, her voice devoid of emotion. She felt relieved to finally say this, however depressing it was to admit. "Everything I've accomplished up until now… it happened because the video games said I would accomplish them. Oscelon brought the games to life and made sure it all happened that way. This is different. Nobody planned this. Nobody designed it. Nobody made sure I had all the right items at all the right times so that the player could get to the end of the game. And without that, I'm not sure I can make it. I'm really not."

Maurice telepathically sent Samus a new emotion now: sympathy. "Oh, Samus," he said, even slower than usual (and his usual was pretty damn slow). "Poor Samus. I cannot imagine what it must be like. It is already difficult enough to feel the burden of a province on my shoulders, to feel guilt every time something goes wrong in Japano and regret that I could not prevent it. I cannot imagine what it is like to feel that way about the entire galaxy." He shook his head. Samus was not sure she wanted his sympathy. She was also not sure she _didn't_ want it. "You are such an extraordinary person," Maurice continued, "remaining so strong even while carrying that burden. You are exceptional regardless of what Oscelon has done.

"Samus, imagine for a moment that Oscelon does not exist, and that the 'Metroid' series of video games did not exist. What would you have done? After the Space Pirates destroyed your home planet, when the Chozo took you as one of their own, would you not have trained with them? Would they not have freely chosen to give you their armor? Would you not have sought revenge against the Space Pirates?"

Samus thought for a moment. "I suppose so," she said. "But… without those games, I wouldn't even exist."

"Perhaps not. But your existence would still be theoretically possible, so let us say for the sake of argument that you do still exist even though Oscelon does not. You would still be the same strong, exceptional person you are today. And I believe that you would still try to do exceptional things, such as destroy the Pirate base at Zebes. I believe you would still succeed… but even if that were not the case, you would be determined to try. Am I incorrect?"

Again, Samus thought about it. "You're… probably right."

"And with that combination of determination and unrivaled skill, I believe you would still succeed where all others fail – video games or no video games. You must understand, Samus: Oscelon cannot control the universe. It is not possible to control events in this universe, only to guide them. Were that not true, Mewtwo would not have been able to rebel against the plans of the Ancient Ones. In matters of who you are and what you chose to do, Oscelon and video games are irrelevant. You are still you, and your decisions are still your own. That is what matters."

Samus continued staring at the stars near the horizon. She did not speak. She was still trying to figure it all out.

"I suppose I should leave you alone now," said Maurice, and he turned around. "I believe you will succeed, Samus. I do not know if that makes any difference, but it is true nonetheless."

"Thank you, Maurice," said Samus.

"It is no problem. Good-bye, Samus. I shall see you again tomorrow morning."

* * *

Tom never left the National Park that night. Rather, when I dared return to him, I found him lying on that same bench alongside Opal; both of them were asleep. And at 5:45 AM, with a mere fifteen minutes to go, he was still asleep. Clearly he was relying on me to awaken him on my own accord. Or else he had forgotten about the mission completely, which wasn't out of the question.

I climbed up on the bench and tapped one of my legs against his forehead. "Wake up, you inattentive imbecile," I said to him. "You have a universe to save."

He did wake up, fortunately. It took about a minute – his eyes slowly opened, then his body slowly sat upright, and then he slowly stretched his limbs. But then he was fully aware. He looked around to find that a veil of mist now covered the park. He also noticed that I could walk. "Dexter? Is… is that you?"

"Of course it's me, dimwit. I had to deploy my emergency legs to get the hell away from you two lovebirds last night."

"Oh," said Tom, blushing. "Right… you were there for that. I sort of forgot about you…."

"Yes, I noticed."

"Sorry about that."

"Forget about it. Just make sure you're fully awake and then Teleport us back to the Lake of Rage."

Tom looked down at Opal. She was still sound asleep. Tom stroked her hair. "Good-bye, Opal…" he whispered. She turned a little but did not wake up.

Tom stood up. He stretched a little more. He then began walking away from the bench, probably in order to not awaken Opal when he left. Opal became a mere shadow behind the mist.

This was my one final chance to speak privately to him. I did not want to do this. I'm usually the type to insult awkwardness, not to be the source of it. But the boy was about to go off on a mission from which he may never return, and some unsaid things needed to finally be said.

He reached for a Pokéball, but I interrupted him. "Tom, wait," I said.

Tom was startled. "Whoa. You did it again."

"Did 'it' again?"

"You called me Tom. You also did that before I faced Jude. I think that was the first time you called me Tom while talking to me. Usually you just call me something insulting."

"Okay, you got me. I'll try to call you by your name from now on. You deserve it. All I wanted to say, Tom, is that watching you grow and mature during these past thirty days has been a fascinating experience that I would not replace. You've stopped being just a kid and have developed and nurtured a number of admirable traits. I'm glad that I was there to witness this development and all of the bizarre things that happened on your journey. It was rough sometimes, but you toughed it out with courage that I quite honestly became proud of. And I'm glad to have been there to help you along the way."

Tom was stunned. "You mean… you've actually _liked_ being my Pokédex this whole time?"

He was really going to push it, wasn't he? "Yes, I am _grudgingly_ admitting that. And I am just as grudgingly admitting that you are a decent human being. Try not to act so shocked."

"It's just… I had no idea you felt that way. I had no idea you even _could_ feel that way… to be honest, I've always thought of you as just a cold, heartless machine."

"Yes, well, think again. Robots have emotions too, you know. Perhaps they aren't as strong as human emotions, but they certainly exist."

Tom smiled; I seemed to have cheered him up on this eve of battle. "Now that I think about it, you've been a really big help this whole time. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome. Now let's get going."

Tom released Albert. He also released Manny, perhaps for moral support. "Like Dexter said, let's get going," Tom repeated. Tom and Manny grabbed onto Albert, who Teleported them to Indigo Plateau, where they would pick up Tom's mother before finally getting to the Lake of Rage.

* * *

"Holy crap that is _so cool_," Peter said excitedly. "Man, I want a space suit! What's it feel like, Tom?"

The suit was bulky, but not too bulky. And it wasn't heavy bulk; the suit was soft and light in addition to being clingy and stretchy. It might have been a very thick jumpsuit, save for the helmet, which Tom was not currently wearing. Tom moved his arm around. "It doesn't really feel like anything," Tom answered. "I almost feel naked."

They were at the Lake of Rage, near the cabin that served as the headquarters for the Council of Psy. The mist over and around the lake was even thicker than that in the National Park. This little area, however, contained no mist: Jillian knew the move Defog, and had used it to create a clear spot. The whole Council had gathered in this clearing. With them were Tom's mother, Peter, April, Jude, and the professors. Tom, Samus, and Manny stood a small distance from this crowd. Closest to them were Professors Oak and Elm. Nobody paid any attention to the gigantic Shedinja behind the crowd or the ladder that led up to the hole in its back.

Tom had just come back from the cabin after using it to change into this spacesuit. The suit, Professor Oak had explained, was merely a precaution, for the environments inside Oscelon _probably_ were safe for humans, since they were safe for Pokémon. Still, it was best to play it safe. More importantly, the suit provided Tom with some much-needed protection – protection from both the elements and, potentially, attackers. It couldn't help him if anything with any real power – Mewtwo, for example – decided to attack him, but it at least provided some weak protection. Most types of bullets couldn't penetrate the deceptively soft, rubbery material – not easily, anyway.

Tom was holding all of the valuables that he'd been keeping in his pockets, including his Pokéballs and, of course, me. "You can put all of that down for now," said Oak. "Give the Ultradex to me, though."

What? "What are you up to, old man?"

Oak showed absolutely no surprise to hear me speak. Tom reluctantly handed me to him. "You're going in Tom's suit, little gizmo," he said. "You're going to act as its central control unit."

_What?_ "Excuse me? I did _not_ consent to that!"

"Yes, well, too bad. It's what you were designed for."

I knew it! "You lying son of a bitch! You knew I had A.I. all this time, didn't you?"

Oak seemed offended. "Of course I knew! How in the world do you _accidentally_ give something an artificial brain? And I never lied to you – you never gave me the opportunity to. The whole time I had you in my lab you never said a word to me. Apparently you never trusted me for a moment, so why yell at me for returning the favor?

"But I'm sure you're smart enough to have figured out what's going on by now, assuming your A.I. chip isn't faulty. Yes, you were designed to be sentient because I was going to give you to Tom. The same is true of Jude's Ultradex. Tom and Jude were the two children that the Council saw clearest in their prophecy, so we made you two to look after them, monitor them, and give them help wherever needed. And now you're going to give Tom the help he needs one last time."

Tom and Jude were wide-eyed, as were Peter, April, and Manny. Ms. Tasby merely looked confused. Samus looked bored. Oak still looked irritated. And I still felt pissed. "Well, don't forget," Elm chimed in, "if we told you, even if you kept it a secret from Tom, you would still act differently toward him. So, we're sorry, but we had to keep it a secret." He was right, of course. That didn't stop me from being pissed and that didn't stop the professors from being lying sons of bitches.

"Oh," said my brother, "so _he_ gets the payoff for putting up with some brat for a month and I get nothing? What a rip-off!"

"Pay-off?" I buzzed back. "Are you joking? I have to have the kid _inside_ me. That's disgusting! Not to mention…." I didn't even want to think about that. My brother already knew what I meant, and he was laughing, the sadistic bastard.

I stated my concern as calmly as I could. "Professor Oak. You did state that this spacesuit contains a waste-processing unit, correct?"

"Correct."

Which meant that the boy would be _peeing into me_. "I refuse to go. Find some other robot."

"We can't use anyone else, and you are very well aware of that!" Oak still seemed annoyed. I think it had to do with how I kept silent from him back when he kept me in his lab. Had he still not gotten over that?

Still, he was right. I was irreplaceable. No other machine had traveled the same path as Tom. None other knew him so well. I would be more comfortable and efficient an operator of his spacesuit's electronic functions than any other robot.

And then Tom spoke. "Dexter, um…" He seemed concerned. "…I'm not sure I can make it out there without you. I'd really like for you to come with me."

The boy's words touched me. I was touched – me! By him! What the hell had happened to me? I wanted to groan. "Fine," I said, "I'll go. God, I better get paid for this."

"It is not typical protocol to pay a machine," said the Governor. "However, I might be willing to make an exception in this case."

Oak walked over to Tom and told him to turn around. He did, allowing Oak to open a flap on the spacesuit's back. Behind the flap was some sort of control panel. Oak fiddled with it, and he fiddled with me, and eventually he managed to fit me into a slot within the panel. And I became the suit. Its functions were my functions. I could control the interior temperature, the elasticity of the suit, the communicative devices, the electronic scree on the helmet, and every little thing with any relation to the circuitry that now wrapped around every part of Tom's body. His life was in my hands now. I had never felt so responsible for anything.

"Just try not to pee," I said from the suit's interior.

"I'll hold it in," Tom replied with a smirk.

Tom's Pokéballs went into a storage unit that wrapped around the boy's waist. And then Peter, April, and Jude were all handing Tom one of _their_ Pokéballs.

"Allow me to explain," said the Governor. "The Council finally reached a verdict as to how these three trainers can help you. We told them this verdict when they arrived early, as discussed. The Council concluded that the optimal arrangement would be to have the assistance of one Pokémon from each of these trainers, and no more than one. Mr. Tutino has agreed to lend you his Gengar, Ms. Maywood has agreed to lend you her Weavile, and Mr. Embs has agreed to lend you his Omega Metroid."

"But wait a moment," Tom intervened. "Can't I only have…."

"Six Pokémon with you at any given time?" the Governor finished. "Technically, yes. The Chozo were very clever engineers and they made sure that rule held true; the Pokéball of any Pokémon you have with you after the sixth will simply cease to function. However, there is a loophole. The rule only holds true of Pokémon that you own. You can hold as many Pokémon belonging to other trainers as you would like. These Pokémon will listen to you if that is what its own trainer instructs. And the three trainers before you have instructed their Pokémon to obey you until your mission is complete."

Tom looked at the three Pokéballs being handed to him. "Thanks, guys," he said. "I'll take good care of them." These three Pokéballs were also stored in Tom's suit – or, rather, stored in me.

Samus had been waiting patiently this whole time. She was already wearing her Chozo armor. "Have we made all of our preparations?" she asked.

"Almost, yes," said the Governor. "I have uploaded the data gathered from our various probes into both your logbook and Mr. Tasby's spacesuit to help guide you. However, I believe that it would be best to provide a brief summary of what we have found so that you know what lies ahead. Professor Rowan?"

Rowan was holding a holoscope, and now he turned it on. Above the crowd, there was now a holographic display of several planets. Some odd, tube-like things seemed to connect the planets to each other.

"I'm sorry to say this, but we really have only probed a tiny portion of Oscelon," said Oak. "It's simply so gigantic that we haven't had the time to go further. What you see now is all that we've mapped out so far.

"Oscelon has us confounded. That area inside it is not like anywhere else in the universe. All of our accumulated scientific progress over thousands of years cannot even compare to the ultra-advanced complexity of the Ancient Ones' design. Oscelon is a biological being, we are sure of that, but it's a being integrated with stars and planets and goodness knows what else. The laws of physics as we know them don't seem to hold true inside of Oscelon. In fact, as far as we can tell, Oscelon itself controls the properties of everything inside it. On any given spot, the gravity, temperature, and atmosphere is at the mercy of Oscelon's will – that's what we've concluded, but it's so perplexing that I'm not certain that I believe it myself.

"But as I said, Oscelon is biological; there is no question of that. However, it is not a biological being the likes of which we've ever seen before. That's almost a given, I suppose – the thing is the size of a star cluster. Look at those tube-like things between the planets up there. We're not entirely sure what their function is, but we think that they serve as blood vessels of some type – although not with blood. They seem to be the veins that biologically connect all of the planets together. At some point, they probably connect to Oscelon's main body itself. Oscelon's main body is the shell that surrounds the space you will be entering… and your destination is on the _outside_ of this shell.

"Now, here's the important thing: we believe that you can use these 'blood vessels' to travel between planets. As I said, Oscelon's biology is unlike anything we have ever seen, and those vessels are no exception. They seem to consist, mostly, of space itself. We are not sure what they are, exactly. We do know that they have transported our probes safely from one planet to the next. They aren't quite holes in space, and yet… the transportation is nearly instantaneous, much faster than light speed. Another quirky property of Oscelon too advanced for our own science to explain.

"So, as you have been told, and as I'm sorry to admit, you will have to find your way to the Leviathan Seed yourselves. Mewtwo got there, somehow, so I am sure there is a way to do it if you keep following the blood vessels. There will be many creatures on the planets inside Oscelon; if you can talk to any of them, perhaps you can ask them for directions."

"I see," said Samus. "So we're going to blindly grope our way through a place some unknowable number of cubic parsecs in volume in the hope of finding a single point somewhere in that space so that we can meet up with the ultra-powerful creature who wants to murder us. Sounds like fun."

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"Not at all. I'm game. Are you, Tom?"

Nervously, Tom nodded. I felt Tom's anxiety as I had never felt it before – no longer was I a single point on his chest, but rather, data and information from all of his vitals and physiological functions poured into me at once. The anxiety decreased a little when Manny pet his hand on Tom's shoulder. "We'll make it, bud," he said. "Just like how we've always made it."

They were ready. And before Tom knew it – for he was in a bit of a daze as he walked – he, Manny, and Samus were beside the giant Shedinja. And now it was time to leave. Everyone said their good-byes. There was hugging and sniffing and crying and good-luck wishing. Tom cherished this, but his anxiety gradually increased nonetheless. And now it was _really_ time to leave. Tom looked into the black abyss that was the hole in Shedinja's back. He took one step on the ladder, and suddenly, his anxiety transformed. It had been anxious nervousness, but it now turned to anxious _eagerness_, or to some form of iron-strong determination.

Samus stepped up on the ladder. She looked down at Tom, who was getting ready to climb beneath her. "Brace yourself," she told him. "The level before the final boss is always the hardest one." Tom nodded.

Samus was the highest on the ladder, so she disappeared first. Manny climbed beneath Tom , so we were next. At the top of the ladder, Tom stepped through the hole in the Shedinja's back. And so we entered Oscelon. Straight to the belly of the cosmic beast.

* * *

_Author's Note: Unlike Jude, the Governor was always meant to have an embarrassing name, although my name ignorance still tripped me up a little. It was supposed to be kind of gender-ambiguous, and there are some names like that that sound like "Mariam", but later I found out that there was nothing ambiguous about it – it's a girls' name. Luckily there was an easy way to explain this._

_Be warned: things are about to get weird._


	34. Oscelon Part 1

There were many unusual things about the environment we now found ourselves in. There were plenty of usual things, too. The grass and flowers that covered the ground as far as the eye could see weren't anything unusual; they made the place quite serene, really. The hilly terrain was something you might find on Pocket. There was a sky, which one might expect, and the sky had stars, which one would also expect. And although both Tom and Samus wore airtight helmets, the atmosphere wasn't all that different from the atmosphere of Pocket.

But the place had its fair share of weirdness. First and foremost were the pod-like structures everywhere. The one right next to us was as big as a house. The rest of them – there were dozens in sight, spread out evenly on the hills – were not quite as large as Tom. They were all hemispherical in shape and made of some silver/white metal; the only notable feature them was a circular door, plus a window on that door.

The sky wasn't quite right, either. It was blue, but not quite the same shade of blue as the Pocketian sky – there was some green in there. There was no single sun, but many of the stars were _almost_ suns; they certainly were more than just distant specks. Their combined light probably replaced the need for a single sun on this planet – and many of the other planets within Oscelon, I suspected.

One more thing stuck out for being quite odd. Near the horizon was a thick, black, vertical line. The line was thickest near the ground and then got thinner as it went up. And up. It never really _stopped_ going up; it simply got so distant as to fade from view. Thus, we could not see where this line led or what awaited on the other end.

We were in Oscelon now. This was where the world of video games met reality.

Tom, Samus, and Manny all looked around to take in their surroundings. Their eyes spent more time on the strange and unusual things, of course, even though the hills and flowers around them were so much nicer to look at. Manny smiled and put his hand on the house-sized metal pod beside us. "I get it," he said. "This is the Pokéball-pod for that for that really-frickin'-big Shedinja we just came through."

"Wait, what?" said Tom. "Is this… is this the kind of thing you end up inside of when I put you in your Pokéball?"

"Well, mine ain't this big," said Manny, "but other than that, yeah. We can leave the pod any time we want, or we can stay in. There's all sorts of stuff in there. There's stuff that can heal you if you have… well, it can heal a whole bunch of things. Sometimes food appears in there, too. I s'pose that's Bill's doing. Thank goodness you never left me in there for too long, though, because _yuck!_ That stuff's nasty. No offense to Bill. Oh, and there's also this big round screen that lets you see what's happening outside of the Pokéball. That's how I can know what you're doing even if you have me in my Pokéball. Like when you were messing 'round with Opal last night."

Tom's arm moved to put his hand on his face, but the helmet was in the way, so the hand just covered the glass. "You saw that too, huh?" He was blushing deeply.

"Well, I left my pod when I realized it was something you probably wouldn't want me to see. Wait, what do you mean, 'too'?"

"He's an idiot," I explained. "Or, at very least, his pathetic human hormones make him act the part in certain situations. Tom forgot I was even in his pocket."

Samus watched Manny and me laugh at Tom as he tried (without much success) to hide his face in embarrassment. She smiled. A love-stricken teenage boy's privacy infringed – what a quaint, sitcom-y problem. Samus couldn't remember the last time she spent any energy on a problem like that. It only made her resolve to keep Tom alive even stronger. His future was so much brighter than hers.

Manny looked around. "I gotta say, though, this doesn't look anything like the place where my pod sits."

"Wrong planet," noted Samus. "We're on the original bug-type planet within Oscelon. Your 'Pokéball-pod' is probably on the fighting-type planet."

"Right, of course. I don't see any bugs here, though. Then again, I guess Shedinja don't move much – they probably don't even leave their pods."

The three of them continued looking around at the pods and the grass and the flowers on the hills. Inevitably, their eyes all fixed on the vertical black line. "According to the map data they gave me," Samus said while pointing at the line, "that's the 'blood vessel' that can warp us to the ghost-type planet. We don't know at this point where the Leviathan Seed is or how we're going to find it… but if we start moving now, maybe we can beat the odds. So let's get moving."

I checked the information they had uploaded to Tom's suit to confirm that, indeed, the line in the distance was the vessel connecting this planet to the ghost-type one. Tom never received this conformation, however; his trust in Samus was strong enough that her word alone sent him walking.

Tom, Samus, and Manny walked over the moist grass and yellow flowers toward the black streak through the bluish-green sky. Other than the flora, they were the only living beings in sight. It was quiet and serene. You wouldn't know that they were now on a mission that… well, there was no certainty of what was up next for them, but in all likeliness it would be decidedly un-serene.

But still, it was a good start. The serene environment imprinted itself on Tom, calming him. "Hey, Manny," he asked as they walked, "did you ever ask any of those psychic-type Pokémon how they could talk, like you said you would?"

"Oh, yeah, I did that back when you were changing into that spiffy suit of yours. I asked that Mr. Mime – ah, I forget her name. Nice-looking lady, that one. But yeah, she told me that it's really, really hard for even the smartest psychic-type Pokémon to learn how to communicate with humans. It's not that they aren't smart enough for language – most of them are. But human brains and Pokémon brains are just built differently, somehow, and if an untrained psychic-type Pokémon tries to tell a human something using telepathy it just won't register. They have to learn how to adjust their brain waves to be more in synch with yours… something like that."

"Oh. That makes sense. I was wondering why they could talk to us and Albert couldn't."

"Yeah. And y'know, while you were in there, I also asked Peter and April for a favor."

"Really? What?"

"Can't tell ya. It's a secret."

"Hey! If it's secret, then why'd you just tell me about it?"

"For motivation. If we make it through this, I'll let you in on a little something that I've been keeping from you."

Tom chuckled. "I get it. Well, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I look forward to finding out when we get back to Pocket."

Tom and Manny continued chatting as if they had no worries. And at the moment, they probably didn't. They were simply taking a walk over some lush hills; what was there to worry about? Nothing came out of the hemispherical pods they passed by. It was only them.

Samus hoped they didn't become too comfortable. She highly doubted that things would stay this easy later on.

The black line got bigger. The hills got shorter and flatter. The Pokéball-pods became fewer and further between. Tom's carefree calmness did not last long. The conversation slowed to a stop.

Closer to the black line – the vessel – there were no longer any flowers and the grass was thinner. When the vessel was no longer a line, but rather an impossibly high black tower, the ground they walked over was more dirt than grass. And then, even closer to the vessel, there was no plant life at all – the ground was entirely brown dirt and entirely flat.

The vessel was right in front of them now. And it wasn't a straight line, as it appeared from a distance – maybe it was higher up, but its junction with this planet was more of a vortex. Some black substance – whether it was solid, liquid, or gas was impossible to determine – swirled upward from its base. That would explain the low, rumbling noise that had gotten louder as the vessel got closer. The junction looked like the horn of a trumpet – a great circle at the bottom that curved inward as it went up. And up and up and up. And only now that they were closer did they see how _enormous_ it was – the base might have been close to a mile in diameter. Tom couldn't keep his eyes off of the huge, swirling black vortex. "Wow. That's… something."

Samus was more concerned with the practical than the spectacle. This, supposedly, was the biological link that would take them to the next planet – the ghost-type planet. The scientists had said that the probes they sent were unharmed after a journey through this "blood vessel". But as Samus gazed upon this infinitely long… thing, she couldn't help but feel uncertain that if they walked into it, they would arrive safely on the other side.

Then again, what choice did they have?

Samus stepped forward. "They told us that these vessels would take us between planets quickly and safely. It may look scary, but we have to trust them now. So… come on."

Tom hesitated. When he finally walked forward, it seemed to take every ounce of willpower he possessed to force his legs to move. He had to fight against every animalistic instinct in his brain telling him to stay the hell away from this swirling death trap. But he moved regardless. And he became slightly less stiff when Manny put a hand on his back. "You got nothing to worry 'bout as long as I'm close by," he told Tom.

They were in front of the vortex now. They knew this because the dirt in front of them was being sucked into the air, gradually disappearing into the blackness. Samus, Manny, and Tom were all gathered right next to each other. None of them wanted to make this step. But there was no turning back now. "Okay," said Samus, "on the count of three, we go in. One, two… three!"

They went in.

* * *

No up or down. No left or right. Time did not exist. Did I exist? Who could say? I couldn't feel me. I could sort of see my own existence if I looked very hard, but it was still a blurry, distant object. And it was the only thing that existed at all. Supposedly, Tom was inside of me, but anything being inside of anything was no more than an abstract concept in that non-place. Sometimes I felt a very rapid heartbeat that could only be Tom's, but even that was an inaudible whisper in the darkness – and then it was gone.

To say that it was dark would imply that darkness existed; reality was so warped in there that I would not make that claim. Were we moving? Did motion exist? I wasn't a suit and I wasn't a Pokédex; I wasn't really anything, yet I also wasn't _nothing_. Nothing didn't exist, but neither did anything.

* * *

I hit the ground with a _thud_. So did Tom, since he was inside me, but I was the one who technically _touched_ the ground. And cushioned his fall. Not that he thanked me.

Tom, Manny, and Samus stood up. Tom's heart rate was still sky-high. Samus wasn't sure if it had been seconds, minutes or hours – or even days – since they walked into the vessel. Her head was spinning, and she was still trying to readjust to a world where time passed in a normal, linear manner. "Dexter," she said, "you have a clock, right? How long did that trip take?"

I was stumped. "Er, sorry, but my clock is completely whacked out. When we landed it tried to tell me several different things at once. I had to reset it. The laws of physics were all over the place in that so-called blood vessel."

Samus was disappointed – but the disappointment was nothing compared to her relief. "What's important is that we made it through there safely. Everyone is okay, right?"

Manny stretched his limbs. "Looks like I am."

Tom took a deep breath. "I'm fine, I think. Actually, that was kind of… exciting." Samus didn't expect that. She wondered if Tom's naiveté prevented him from understanding how dangerous that trip was. She wondered if he wasn't better off staying naïve.

"All systems are functional," I said, as if anyone cared. "So are Tom's."

The three of them looked around. "So this is the ghost-type planet, huh?" said Manny. "Well, it sure does look the part."

That it did. Everything was dark. This isn't to say that there was no light – the many stars emitted about the same amount of light as on the bug-type planet. There simply weren't any surfaces to reflect this light. The rocky ground was a dark purple, as was everything in sight. In fact, other than the sky, the only things in sight were the ground and a number of formations made of the same dark-purple rock. The sky itself was dark as night, although I suspected that it was always this dark.

Behind them was a huge, black vortex almost exactly like the one they had walked into – the one on the other end of the vessel. Everyone got away from this vortex as soon as they could.

"What a weird, spooky place," noted Manny. "So which way do we go now?"

Samus pointed. "According to the map they gave me," she said, "there's a vessel leading to the rock-type planet if we go that way. But that's the last planet that's been charted. From there, if we want to get to the Seed, our best bet is to… ask around."

"Um, I'm not sure if there's anyone to ask around here," said Tom.

"Maybe not. We may have to look elsewhere. But keep that in mind on the off-chance that we do find someone. Without help, we'll just have to keep wandering until we stumble upon the path that'll take us to where we need to be. And I don't know how long that would take."

They started walking. Samus looked around as she walked, ever cautious. Tom looked around as he walked, deeply fascinated. It was a much more "alien" planet than the bug-type one. Some of the rock formations near the horizon were like nothing on Pocket.

Tom jolted; I could tell that a thought had come to him. "Manny, you won't be much good if we have to fight any ghosts. So… c'mon out, Umanda and Gengar." As stated, he took out two Pokéballs from a pouch on his suit (er, on me) and released Umanda and Gengar. Umanda walked, and Gengar floated, along with us.

Samus, who was leading the group, stuck her arm out. On this signal, everyone stopped. Tom's expression was puzzled, so he must not have heard it yet, but I had. Something was approaching. Possibly multiple somethings.

The sound was distant, but it was gradually growing louder: _waka waka waka waka waka_….

Now Tom and Manny heard it too. They looked to their left. There were… things… approaching. As they got closer, their appearance became clearer. There were four of them: a red one, a pink one, an orange one, and a blue-green one. All of them were translucent. All of them had the same shape – they looked like a kid who had covered himself with a blanket to look like a ghost. Although these clearly _were_ ghosts. The only noticeable features on them were two big, round eyes.

_Waka waka waka waka waka…._

The ghosts floated by in front of us. They were close, yet they didn't seem to take any notice of us. And then something very odd happened. Without warning, all four ghosts turned blue. Not only that, but they became opaque, their eyes shrunk into white beads, and they now wore a white line that looked like a frown. The ghosts, which had come quickly from the left, started slowly flying left, back the way they came.

_WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA_….

Everyone looked to the right and realized that the ghosts were being chased. The chaser was the weirdest thing we'd seen all day, and that's saying something. It was, basically, a big yellow ball. It had thin little arms and legs, but for the most part it was just a big, living sphere. This yellow sphere had a face – black eyes, a long nose, and an unbelievably large mouth that looked like a watermelon slice when open. As it ran, this creature opened and closed its mouth continually, making the "WAKA WAKA WAKA" sound that sounded louder to us as it got closer.

Tom saw something in the corner of his eye that made him look down. "Uh oh," he said. The strange ghosts weren't the only thing that had turned blue: Gengar had, too. Not only was he a bright shade of blue now, but he looked very disoriented and was stumbling around aimlessly. He wore a thin frown – for a Gengar, this expression is extremely rare.

The round yellow thing was in front of us now. It stopped running. (Samus scanned it, but there were no results, as she expected – they were on unexplored terrain.) It turned toward us… and started running, still making that "WAKA WAKA WAKA" noise. It was looking at Gengar. Hungrily.

The thing was mere feet away from Gengar when Manny decided that it was a threat and, with one swift chop, knocked it to the ground. It wasn't a very strong blow – it was intended to stop the thing, not to hurt it. Still, the thing looked offended. It looked up at Manny and started yelling.

Tom's suit, like Samus's, came with an in-built, state-of-the-art translator. However, this thing's language was so different from anything in any of my files that it took me a few seconds to analyze it. The translation begun mid-rant: "WAKAWAKA WAKA think you can just walk around with a ghost in these parts, _these parts_ of all places, and it's my fault for trying to have at it? What's yer business with that thing in the first place, eh?"

"Um, excuse me," said Tom, "the ghost is mine. He doesn't mean anyone any harm." Gengar was improving; some purple had returned to him, and he could now manage to stand still.

"That be so?" the thing said with a quizzical expression. "And what're yeh doing with a ghost around here, exactly?"

"I think the more pressing question," said Samus, her Arm Cannon aimed at the yellow thing, "is: who are you, and why did you try to attack us?" Samus was inherently suspicious of weird, unidentified aliens, and this one hadn't given her a good first impression.

"Aye, sorry 'boot that," said the thing. "I come to this place sometimes to hunt. Fruit usually – you'd be surprised how much delicious fruit you'd find here if you looked hard enough. But I can't pass up an opportunity to go after the ghosts e'ry now and then, and well, when I saw that shade o' blue on that ghost o' yours, I s'pose instinct just took over. I gotta chase ghosts as fast as I can when they're that color or else it's too late, they've changed back. Sorry, didn't mean any nasty business. The name's Pactrick. I must admit I've never seen anyone who looks like you 'round these parts – or, er, anywhere else, for that matter. Where're y'all from, and what're yeh doing here?"

"We're travelers," said Samus. She still didn't let her guard down – she tended not to – but she was now fairly certain that the alien was not a threat. "We come from a planet very, very far away from here. And we're going to a place that's also very far from here. But… to tell the truth, we're in need of some directions. Tell me: do you know anything about Oscelon?"

Samus had not expected Pactrick to react at all. She doubted that those who lived inside of Oscelon really knew where they were relative to the rest of the universe; why would they? If they had telescopes, then they could only see as far as the walls surrounding them – and there was no reason to believe in a universe that existed outside of these walls.

So she was surprised when Pactrick smiled a smile that looked like a crescent moon and nodded. "Aye, Oscelon! Now there's a word I don't hear others say so often. It be a pity, the others where I come from, they got no ambition, no curiosity, just content to sit around and know nothing 'boot themselves. But me, no, not me. I'm an explorer, ye might say – that's why y'all can find me here, in this ugly place, where most o' me people refuse to go. Aye, I've heard of Oscelon. Crikey, though, no need to keep talking out here! You never know what's going to pop out of the shadows. No, follow me, I'll take you to my place – if y'all are okay with that. It be right nearby, and I got tea aplenty if you want some!"

Tom looked at Samus. Samus looked at Pactrick. Manny looked confused – he did not have a translator. "Okay," said Samus, "let's go."

When they began walking, Manny got closer to Tom. "Um, Tom," he whispered, "what the heck did that thing just say?"

* * *

Samus, free of her helmet, sipped her tea. She'd only accepted the offer after her scans showed no signs of poison in the cup. The rest of her suit still covered her body; however safe she felt now, there was no way she was going to take her armor off on such a strange alien world where the unknown could be lurking anywhere. Tom must've felt the same way, since he too only took off his helmet. Manny, on the other hand, was actually wearing more than when he'd come in; specifically, he now wore a tiny radio transceiver in his ear. It had been in the suit I now inhabited, just in case, and now that Manny wore it I could sent him the translation of Pactrick's words. The translation was one-way, though, so Manny could not speak to the alien.

They were in a small cave. Naturally, it was all made of the same dark purple rock that made up everything else outside. This, Pactrick had explained, was not his primary home, but rather a little hideout he kept for whenever he was in the area. This made sense, as it certainly didn't look like someone's permanent home – there were little accommodations other than a bed, a table, and a stove barely large enough for heating tea up. The room was very, very cluttered and very, very messy.

Pactrick had a lot to say, and he did not need prompting to say it. The chatty yellow ball talked about his life-long, intense curiosity and yearning for knowledge. About how this yearning had led him to embark on many adventures and to make many discoveries. About how, because of this, he was one of the very few Pac-People who knew about Oscelon and what it meant to live inside it. He talked about other things, too, perhaps in excess of what was useful or necessary.

"So you're telling us," said Samus, "that this is both the ghost-type planet _and_ the normal-type one?"

"Aye," said Pactrick, "the two, they're the same, really. Always have been. Whatever this planet used to be, well, it came in two flavors, yah, two different dimensions. Two sides of a coin. From what I've gathered, well, the ghosts on the one side weren't so friendly. I s'pose Oscelon didn't like them, anyhoo, so it gobbled the planet up. _Om nom nom_, just like that. And then it took the two sides o' the coin and, well, melded them into one side, if that makes any sense. Oh, they're still separate, but they're in the same dimension now, just opposite sides o' the planet. Aye, the real ghost dimension, from what I gather it's barely holding together anymore. Lost its form, lost almost all its inhabitants, now it barely be anything at all."

"The Distortion World," muttered Samus, figuring it out. Upon contemplation, she had also figured something else out: this was definitely the planet from which the wrecked ship on Ludus had launched.

"Anyhoo, it sounds like once Oscelon combined the two dimensions into one planet, it changed the living things on the planet, somehoo, into what they are today. The people living on my side o' the planet, we became Pac-People, and the ghosts became – well, you saw them. It makes sense when you think about it, eh? Oscelon wanted a normal-type, well, you don't get much more normal than us – just a body with arms and legs, nothing more. And it wanted a ghost type, well, them ghosts out there are as ghost-like as they come. Like if you took a ghost and removed everything about it that wasn't one-hundred-percent ghost-like, you'd have the things you saw out there. Very simplistic design. Oh, y'all want to see something interesting?"

Pactrick carefully waded through the piles of sheer junk that filled the room. There were books, papers, clothes (for what? He wasn't wearing any clothes), and plenty of small, valuable-looking objects such as statuettes and jewelry, which I assume he had gotten his yellow hands on during the course of his many adventures. When Pactrick reached the cave wall, he brushed aside all varieties of objects in order to clear something into view. This something touched the wall; it was not very wide or long, but was almost as tall as Tom. On it was a screen that was highest near the wall and then sloped downward, with the obvious intent that it be stood above and looked down on. Just beneath this screen there were buttons and a control stick. The stand itself was yellow and black, full of letters and symbols that were totally obscured by scratches and by dust.

"Anyone want to play a game?" asked Pactrick.

For a second, nobody moved. Then, nervously, Tom walked over to the stand.

"Let me tell you," said Pactrick, "you have no idea, _no idea_ how hard it was for me to find this thing. Oh, I could tell you stories, stories you wouldn't believe, aye. But I won't waste yer time, no. Here, let me turn it on for yeh."

Pactrick pressed a button. Tom flinched in surprise when the screen lit up and the stand – apparently some sort of machine – made all sorts of _bleep_ing and _bloop_ing noises. A few seconds later, the screen displayed a simple maze with blue walls, filled with white dots, inhabited by a yellow circle and four odd, misshapen things. Pactrick showed Tom how to use the control stick to steer the yellow circle (which made a very irritating, high-pitch noise) through the maze, "eating" the white dots and avoiding the "ghosts". Then he handed the controls to Tom.

"Yer playing an important piece of history, lad," said Pactrick. "This game is the very reason why I exist. From what I can gather, it was one of the very first video games made, and one of the most popular – I s'pose I should take that as a complement, eh? Anyhoo, they call it Pac-Man, but hell if I can tell you why. I don't see what it's packin'."

Tom "beat" a level, much to his (and Manny's) satisfaction. "Aye, very good!" Pactrick applauded as the screen reset. Tom began playing the next level while Pactrick babbled. "Strange, ain't it, how the Pac-man has to stay inside those little lines? Not very realistic if you ask me. I tell you, sometimes I wish it were really like that, that there were little narrow lines to stay on showing me exactly which way to go – no confusion, no getting lost, just back or forth, one way or the other. Ah, what'm I saying? That'd be awful, it would. No way to escape if you got ghosts on both sides." He laughed, nervously. "S'pose it's better for us out here than the little Pac-Man in there. He don't got many options, do he? Just one way or the other, no climbing up or going sideways."

While Tom played, Samus became distracted by Gengar and Umanda. Umanda was lying down and licking her paw. Gengar had become bored long ago, and now that his subtle attempts to get Umanda's attention had failed, he tried for the not-so-subtle. Jumping around and making noises hadn't worked, either. When Gengar poked Umanda in the forehead, she gave him a glare so cold and threatening that he gave up and crawled under the table. He continued staring anxiously at her, as if worried that she could attack at any moment.

Samus snapped out of it and remembered the task at hand. "Excuse me," she said, "but we're trying to get to the surface of Oscelon. Do you have any advice?"

Pactrick looked at her in shock. Tom stopped playing, allowing a ghost to "kill" his Pac-man. "The surface?" Pactrick repeated. "The surface, eh? Now that… that is a tricky one." He scratched his chin for a few seconds, thinking. "I can't tell you anything for sure. I've been around, aye, but not _that_ around. All I can tell you is what I know from astronomy, from what I've studied of the stars and all the roads between planets." He paused, taking more time to think. "Yer best bet, I think, is the planet Aquatica. Full o' water, as you could probably guess. I've heard that there's a road from that planet that don't go to any other planet, that goes instead to one of the walls that confine our known universe. One of the walls of Oscelon. I think that Oscelon uses some of the water from that planet for keepin' itself alive… there's a chance, just a chance, that if you can get there, you can get to the surface."

"Thank you so much," said Samus, and she meant it. "Do you happen to know how to get to Aquatica?"

Pactrick shook his head. "Sorry, very sorry, but I don't. Say, where were y'all heading before we crossed paths?"

"To the rock-type planet," said Samus. "But we weren't sure where to go from there."

Pactrick took a few seconds to think even more. Then a smile spread across his face. "That's perfect! I'm assumin' that you're talking 'boot the planet Geo. I know a guy there, I do, and I believe he can help you. Goes by the name Dargoma. Pay him a visit if you see 'im, you won't regret it."

"Thanks again," said Samus. "We should really get going…."

"Wait up!" snapped Pactrick. "Oh no, I just realized, you're going to Geo… gosh, how could I forget? That path's not safe like it once was. Not recently… no, recently, _it_ has been guarding that path. It's not friendly, no, and it's not weak either. For a few months now, it's been blocking the connection to Geo. Aye… Bouldergeist. If you plan on going to Geo, you'll have to get past it. But…." Pactrick suddenly looked very nervous. "Don't bother. It'll kill you. Find some other path… the other planets, they aren't as easy to get to maybe, but at least they aren't guarded by _that_! Aye, y'all oughtta…."

"It's fine," said Tom. "We can handle it."

"Yes," said Samus, "we're prepared for pretty much anything at this point. If we have to fight our way forward, we will."

Pactrick looked at them with deep worry in his eyes. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said. "If you can't be helped you can't be helped, but… be careful."

* * *

They decided it would be faster for Tom to fly. So he flew. Gengar rode on Charlie's back, too, just in case he was needed. Manny and Umanda were back in their Pokéballs.

Samus was an extraordinarily fast runner, in spite of the bulkiness of her suit. Still, Charlie's maximum flying speed was much faster than Samus's maximum running speed. Yet having two people ride Charlie would weigh him down too much, so Samus ran below us. Charlie had to pace himself to Samus's running speed as he flew above the rocky purple landscape.

There were all sorts of weird shapes on the horizon. They were as tall as mountains, these shapes, but they didn't look like mountains. Some of them had shapes that looked completely random, others resembled familiar things. All of them were eerie as hell. Some of them looked like giant faces, and those were the ones that most effectively caught Tom's attention. Whenever he looked at one it creeped him out enough that he had to turn away. But for some reason, he kept looking back, even though that would just spook him again. I can't figure humans out at all.

It was a long way to the vessel. Fortunately, neither Samus nor Charlie were the type to tire out easily. It was the same flat, barren wasteland the whole time. Sometimes Tom and/or Samus spotted a ghost in the distance, but rarely did they encounter any. Once, we flew over a group of Boos. Samus had to run through them, which was tricky, but she weaved her way between the white ghosts just fast enough to avoid them.

Later on, we flew over what I can only describe as a "podfield" – a field of Pokéball-pods much like those we had seen on the bug-type planet. Here, however, there were a few Haunter floating around between the pods. One of them saw us flying over it and, upon seeing Gengar, waved. Gengar waved back. I wondered if they knew each other.

The vertical black line, the vessel connecting this planet with Geo, was barely visible in the darkness. Even when we got closer, it was hard to see the black line in the black sky. The closer we got, though, the more starlight it obscured, making the black tower more obvious and viewable. And as we got even closer, the vortex at the bottom of the tower came into view. As expected, it looked exactly like the vortex we walked into back on the bug-type planet.

A rock flew straight at Charlie. He narrowly dodged it in time.

Now that Tom and Samus were close enough, they could see the various things that surrounded this part of the vortex. Mostly, the edge of the vortex was teeming with floating rocks and floating Boos – some of the Boos were white, some black. All of them looked miniscule and insignificant compared to the mile-wide vortex behind them. So did the thing in the center of all this commotion. It looked, basically, like a messy, uneven pillar made of rocks. Bouldergeist had a pair of horns (one bigger than the other), two white eyes, and an ugly, gaping mouth. A dark purplish aura emanated out of the cracks between the rocks, including its mouth, and the space where it touched the ground as well. Two rock hands floated beside it; they were every bit as lumpy and messy as Bouldergeist's body.

Their proximity to the vortex may have made them appear miniscule, but these impediments could not be ignored. Especially not when, one by one, the rocks floating around in the air flung themselves at Charlie and Samus. Fortunately, both dodged these easily; they were both used to much quicker attacks. Tom released Weavile, Kim, and Umanda, Gengar floated down to the ground, and Samus began shooting. A battle had begun.

Samus's missiles did some serious damage to Bouldergeist, so it threw a continuous string of rocks at her to block her line of fire. A horde of Boos targeted Weavile, Umanda, Gengar, and Kim to distract them as well. During the fight, Tom realized that the Boos only came closer to a target if said target wasn't looking directly at said Boo. He half-smiled as he gave the Pokémon new orders: split up, and each face four different directions. This ensured that the greatest possible number of Boos had to hide their faces in their tiny little arms and stop moving altogether, making them easier to attack.

Samus's missiles easily destroyed these rocks before they reached her. She wasn't all that worried; the rocks weren't even fast. When one string of rocks ended, a couple of black Boos floated toward her; each of them exploded with a single shot from her Power Beam. The explosion damaged Bouldergeist, it being nearby. Samus wondered why he even brought them out. Realizing how easy this would be, she also wondered what Pactrick had been worried about. Of course, it occurred to her, Bouldergeist and its hench-ghosts would be capable foes for any normal being. Almost nobody was as prepared for it as she was.

Or as Tom was, for that matter. The Pokémon were pulverizing the ghosts, and every time a Boo retreated, Tom's reaction was a sort of wild, unrestrained enthusiasm that I never remembered feeling in him before. It was a bit scary, honestly. On his orders, the Pokémon slowly but steadily moved closer to Bouldergeist until they were right next to it. At that point, Gengar and Weavile fought off the ghosts while Kim and Umanda used Surf and Dark Pulse, respectively, on Bouldergeist. Samus, meanwhile, shot at all of the black Boos she could find, and the ensuing explosions lit up the place like fireworks.

Before long, the ghosts seemed to realize that they were out of their league. Bouldergeist's troubled eyes hinted that it came to this conclusion even before its rock exterior got smashed to rubble. And then – having been chiseled away at by Kim, Umanda, and Samus – its rock exterior _did_ get smashed to rubble, revealing the sad, red, wobbly… thing… inside. Above the red thing, only Bouldergeist's head remained. The creature obviously did not want to lose this part of it, and so it floated away. Many of its ghost minions followed it, leaving an opening within the line of ghosts and rocks. This was our opportunity to reach the vortex.

"Let's go!" said Samus, but it hardly needed saying. Tom withdrew all of the Pokémon except Charlie, who flew him into the black void as Samus ran into it beneath us.

* * *

Tom, Samus, and Charlie rolled along the flat rock, the vortex at the other end having spit them out sideways. The trip through the vessel "felt" about the same as the first one, to the extent that I could "feel" anything at all in there. Tom and Samus (and Charlie) stood up and looked around.

This was definitely Geo, the rock-type planet. It was full of – big surprise – rocks. Big ones, little ones, black ones, gray ones, brown ones. The ground itself seemed to be made up of light-brown rocks melded together, and little crevices marked the edges where they touched. In front of us was a little mountain (made entirely of rock, of course); we stood on a sloped ground that led up to it. Behind us was the black vortex, which everyone walked away from as soon as possible. Above us was a sky containing as many stars, and of the same brightness, as the last two planets. The sky was orange, like sunset, but I think it was always that color here.

Tom released Manny, who looked around as well. "Alright, we made it!" said Manny. "Two planets down… erm… some unknown number to go!"

"Yeah," said Tom. His system was still going through a bit of a rush. "That was… we beat Bouldergeist so easily. Pactrick was terrified. He thought that it was too strong for us and that we'd have to find some other way to go. But we _creamed_ it."

Samus only nodded. She envied Tom's excitement. To her, being vastly more powerful than pretty much every other person – or, indeed, Pac-Person – was nothing to be up about or down about, merely a fact of life, a property of the universe. She fit comfortably into the role, and it was what it was. To Tom, though, the revelation filled him with joy and pride that Samus, thinking back, couldn't remember ever feeling about her strength. Even before she'd gotten used to it, it only caused her trauma and confusion to be this ultra-powerful thing. She didn't know what to do with all that power, how to deal with the responsibility that it came with – or, perhaps, that she placed in it – how to cope with the difficulty relating to any other person when they had such different problems, such a different life than she had. Yet, to Tom, this great power was a shiny new toy. Samus wasn't sure what to make of this.

But Samus didn't have much time to ponder. There was a rumbling noise from up on the mountain. Then she saw things on the mountain. They were rolling down, and fast. And getting faster.

"Boulders!" she warned. "Everyone get out of the way!"

The two people and two Pokémon ran sideways relative to the mountain. But the line of boulders was too long and rolling down too fast.

"Hang on!" said Manny. "Stay behind me – I've got this!"

Everyone stopped running and got behind Manny, who assumed a fighting pose. One boulder from the line came rolling right at him. Manny tensed up as the boulder came closer. Then, with perfect timing, he punched the boulder with both of his right arms just before it could hit him.

But Manny pulled back his punch about halfway through. That's when he realized that the boulder wasn't actually a boulder. It was a living, breathing thing.

Nobody could be blamed for mistaking this thing for a boulder – especially not while curled up, considering the rough and bumpy surface of its back. Its front was smoother, as well as a lighter shade of brown that made it look covered in sand. It was a fat, bipedal creature with a somewhat teardrop-shaped head. Samus scanned it and was surprised to find that its race was available in her files.

"OW!" screamed the Goron, rubbing its back. "Ow, ow, ow! That _hurt_! Ow! Oh, goro, what kind of terrible creatures are you? What are you going to do with me? Why do you want to make me even more miserable than I am?"

"I'm sorry!" Manny said desperately. "Sorry! I thought you were a boulder! I didn't mean to hurt you. Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

The Goron was on the verge of tears. "Nobody likes me, my job is terrible, I wake up too late today to eat breakfast… and just when I think things can't get worse, now a monster punches me in the back and is probably going to eat me! Goro, and now he is making demands of me in a language I can't even understand! Why me, why always me?"

Manny stopped apologizing. The translator in his ear was one-way – he could understand the Goron, but the Goron could not understand him. Instead, Tom spoke up. "He says he's very sorry. He didn't mean to hurt you. We thought you were a boulder… and you were about to crush us. Sorry. We never wanted to _eat_ you."

The Goron took a few deep breaths – partly because of the pain, partly out of relief. "Maybe I did jump to conclusions. If it was just a misunderstanding… well, try to watch what you're punching next time. But why would you want to waste a perfectly tasty boulder?"

That was not a question any of us expected to hear. "Um… what?"

"You said you thought I was a boulder, yet you also said you never wanted to eat me. Were you really planning to destroy a boulder and then just let it go to waste? Maybe you really _are_ monsters!"

"Wait a moment," said Manny. "Are you saying you eat rocks?"

The Goron looked at Manny confusedly. "He asked if you eat rocks," Tom explained.

"What? Of course I do! What else am I supposed to eat, plants? Other creatures?" He snorted derisively. "But who are you? You do not look like anyone I have ever seen. Where are you from?"

"We're from far away," said Samus. "And we've come here to see someone named Dargoma."

"Dargoma? You know our leader?"

"No, but we'd like to meet him. Where is he?"

"Why should I tell you? You strange creatures come here, punch me in the back, and now expect me to take you to Dargoma? How do I know you will not punch him, too?"

Samus considered showing him what her Arm Cannon could do and then asking again. Not a strategy she'd be proud of, to be sure, but they were desperate. Just then, however, Manny drew everyone's attention by raising one arm in the air. In his raised hand, a large rock appeared out of nowhere. He was using Rock Slide, obviously, but in this case there was no need to actually Slide the Rocks. He held his arm out toward the Goron, the rock in his open palm. "Want a bite?" he asked. Tom translated.

Nervously, the Goron grabbed the rock. He looked at it suspiciously. He sniffed it. His eyes widened. Slowly, he took a very, very small bite out of it. His eyes widened even more. "Goro! What sort of wizard are you? This is delicious! And you can make it appear out of thin air!" He bit into the rock harder.

"I can make as many of them as you want!" said Manny. Tom translated again.

The Goron, who by now had eaten about half of the rock, looked at Manny with watery eyes. He then walked up to Manny and, to the Machamp's surprise, hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank you, brother, thank you!" Tears were rolling down the Goron's round cheeks. This was the softest "boulder" any of us had ever seen. "Such kindness is so rare today! So valuable! Oh, it does not matter that you hurt me, you clearly did not mean to. But this… this may be the tastiest rock I have ever eaten!" Manny looked unsure of how to react. Luckily for him, the Goron then let go. "You want to see Dargoma? I will bring you to him. He will be thrilled to see the magic four-armed man who can make delicious rocks appear out of thin air. Our tribe lives in the mountain; come with me."

He began walking up the mountain, trailed by Manny, and Samus, and Tom (who withdrew Charlie). Tom walked closer to Manny and whispered, grinning, "You really need to stop hitting everyone who can help us." Manny crossed his lower arms and rolled his eyes.

* * *

Manny panted as he put the last rock on the pile. "I'm all out of juice," he said, still panting. "That's all I can do right now." Then, to Tom: "I hope you don't need me to use Rock Slide anytime soon."

We were in a dark room, lit only by a couple of torches on the jagged rock wall. Dargoma, the patriarch of this Goron tribe, eyed the pile of rocks suspiciously. He was larger and more muscular than the first Goron we'd encountered, and had a great brown beard as well. Dargoma had made a show of acting as tough and intimidating as possible toward these strange-looking aliens who had come to his mountain seeking help. Slowly, he picked up one of Manny's rocks, brought it to his mouth, and crunched down on it. He chewed on the small piece of rock in his mouth… and the façade of toughness completely melted away. His shoulders drooped, his muscles relaxed, and his eyes widened. He swallowed. "This…." His eyes were getting watery. "…This is the greatest rock I have ever tasted. And I have tasted many, _many_ rocks."

"I told you, brother!" said the Goron who had shown us the way here. "These strangers could not possibly mean to harm us! Not when… when…."

Manny, to his shock, now found himself in the embrace of _two_ Gorons. Once again, he looked completely at a loss about how to react. "Erm… you're welcome?" he said, even though they couldn't understand him. Tom had to restrain a laugh. Samus realized that her Arm Cannon was raised out of instinct – the room was dark, the Gorons looked strong, and they were hugging Manny _very_ tightly. She forced herself to lower it.

When the Gorons let go of Manny, Dargoma spoke again. "We are extremely gracious for your offering. You wanted my help for something? Please, ask!"

"We're trying to get to the surface of Oscelon. We need directions."

It was worth a try, but Samus hadn't expected it to work. Predictably, Dargoma looked confused. "Oscelon? I am sorry, that is not a word I am familiar with."

"In that case," said Samus, "we just need directions to the planet Aquatica. Can you help us with that?"

Dargoma smiled. "Planet hoppers, are you? Well, we Gorons are not ignorant of the stars. We have watched them, we have studied them… yes, I believe I can help you. Come with me. I shall show you our planetarium."

* * *

On Charlie's back, Tom flew over the endless, barren, rocky landscape. Samus wasn't running this time, for Tom had realized that she had no reason to tire herself out and slow Charlie down when she could hitch a ride as well. Instead, she rode on Jeffrey's back; the Omega Metroid hopped forward in time with Charlie's flight. Samus found it surreal to be riding a Metroid after having spent most of her adult life hunting them.

The Goron planetarium had been quite informative indeed. Crude – mostly made of rocks – but informative. I had analyzed the information and calculated the shortest possible path to Aquatica. Now we were on our way to some planet called Fross. From there we'd go to Draco, then to Char, then to Voltus, and then finally to Aquatica. Which would _hopefully_ take us to the surface of Oscelon. We had a long way to go.

Charlie flew down until he was about at level with Jeffrey's head and then made some friendly snarling sounds that probably meant something like "How's it going?" Jeffrey, not used to this, increased his distance from Charlie. Charlie snorted, amused at the shyness of such a huge, terrifying creature.

We flew – or, in Samus and Jeffrey's case, hopped – over a podfield full of captured Sudowoodo. Perhaps April's was in there somewhere. It's hard to say; we didn't stay long. Eventually, the black line – the vessel we would take to Fross – came into view. It was a thin little thing at first, like the space between two sheets of paper, but it got thicker (to us) as we approached. And the ground, which had been light-brown stone the whole time, was now white with snow. Jeffrey slowed down as he hopped over the snow; the cold was not good for him. Realizing this, Samus go off of him and told Tom to withdraw him. Tom did as she asked. Now Samus ran under us as we moved toward the great black thing.

When we were close to the vortex at the bottom of the black vessel, Samus saw something that made her skin crawl. _Impossible_, she thought, yet there it was. The icy rocks near the vortex gathered together in a large, vaguely humanoid shape, one that Samus found disturbingly familiar.

Thardus threw one rock at Samus and another at Charlie; both targets dodged the attack. Samus had no idea what this monster was doing here now, but she intended to be rid of it as quickly as possible. She switched to her Plasma Beam and opened fire. Tom, meanwhile, had never seen this thing before, but he knew that it was rocky and icy, and he knew that fighting-types were super effective against both of these things. So he sent out Manny; he also sent out Kim and Albert. Charlie then swooped down to Thardus for a quick Flamethrower before flying out of its range.

The fire-type attacks were having a devastating effect on Thardus. Samus was somewhat relieved to realize that this would not be as difficult as the last time she fought it, when she did not possess the Plasma Beam and when she did not have Tom's Pokémon to assist her. Thardus threw rocks and created shockwaves of solid ice along the ground, occasionally hitting its target. But it was outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Tom allowed himself a small rush of excitement as he watched Thardus stagger after Manny punched it in the… "chest", or something. But the boy's excitement turned to horror when Thardus became a rock ball and rolled Manny over. He gasped; the gasp turned into a sigh of relief when Manny crawled out from under the rock creature, barely hurt. Still, Tom apparently saw a need to stay on the safe side, and now he released both Umanda and Ralph.

Thardus was considerably stronger than Bouldergeist. But still not nearly strong enough to handle attacks from all six of Tom's Pokémon as well as Samus's Plasma Beam. Within minutes, it was no more than rubble. Tom, his heart still racing, withdrew all of his Pokémon except Manny. Tom, Samus, and Manny then ran toward the vortex with urgency, as if worried that Thardus could get back up at any moment. We entered the vortex and the nothingness came once more.

* * *

_Author's Note: The "Oscelon" chapters are split up into three parts, in case you were wondering._

_Don't ask me what the heck Pactrick's accent is supposed to be. I have no idea._


	35. Oscelon Part 2

I never really got used to those physics-defying trips through Oscelon's blood vessels. As a machine, I'm used to having feedback from 100% of my parts all day, every day, so to suddenly be ripped apart from my physical self for some indeterminate amount of time is… well, uncanny.

Nobody else seemed too fond of it, either, judging by how quickly they always scurried away from the loud, swirling vortex as soon as they reached the other side. Tom, Manny, and Samus ran up the sloped ground… well, "ran" is an exaggeration. The snow was piled far too high for anyone other than Samus to easily run through, and even she was having some trouble with it. Much like that trek through Northern Sinnoh, or near the top of Mt. Coronet, the whole place was white; visibility was very limited. So nobody saw the edge of the cliff until it was right in front of them.

Tom's pulse rose considerably as he looked down and became fully aware of how endless the abyss below him was. The cliff bent down at a ninety-degree angle, so Tom stood only a few steps away from what appeared to be an infinite fall. The bottom was far out of sight, so there was no telling exactly how high up we were. "…Whoa," was all Tom had to say. He took in the rest of his surroundings with similar wonder. Somewhere beyond the abyss was another sharp-edged cliff; the plateau that topped it was below us, and filled with snow-covered trees. There were no trees up here, though, only snow. Tom looked uphill and noticed that we were right below the very top of some mountain. At the peak was an icy, dead-looking tree, and next to it was… something. Something white, bipedal, and big. It had a large, bizarrely fat tail, and its body had very strange proportions – the arms were much larger than the legs, and the torso blended in with the neck.

Tom, Samus, and Manny all stared at the thing on the peak. "That creature we just defeated," said Samus. "I've… met it before. Or something like it. But Thardus was a Space Pirate experiment. It was brought to life using Phazon. Which means… the corruption might be deeper than we realized. Some of the Phazon must have gotten into Oscelon's blood vessels. And Oscelon, while it was still Phazon-mad, might have brought hostile creatures like Thardus and Bouldergeist to the vessels to keep guard over them. In other words, be prepared – some of the other vessels might be guarded, too."

Nobody spoke. Their silence was consent enough. "Dexter," asked Samus, "which way to the next vessel?"

I was the one with the compass – and, more importantly, who had vigorously analyzed every detail of the Goron planetarium. "See the peak?" I said, which was a stupid question in retrospect – of course they could. "Keep going in that direction and you'll get there eventually.

"What… _is_ that?" asked Tom, pointing to the creature.

"I don't know," said Samus. "Hopefully, it's friendly."

"Yeah," said Manny. "Hey, should I punch it?"

"_No!_" snapped Tom.

"I was just joking, sheesh."

Cautiously, the three of them walked toward the peak. When they were right behind the big creature by the tree, the thing heard them coming and turned around. Its face was just as bizarre as its body. The lower half of it was covered with white mane, but the rest of it was very dark. Teeth poked out everywhere; the mouth looked much too large, somehow. It looked at us with bulging eyes. "Oh!" it boomed. "Yeto never seen animal like you before, uh! Where you from, uh?"

"We're from somewhere far away," said Samus. Her caution was waning – Yeto seemed friendly enough. Not that her caution ever faded completely, especially not while talking to unknown aliens on an unknown planet. "We're trying to get to a planet called Draco."

Yeto's eyes popped out as he smiled a ridiculous smile. "Oh, you lucky you find Yeto then! Yeto know exactly where to find dragon-planet, uh! Just follow Yeto!"

Unexpectedly, Yeto then punched the blackened, icy tree with all his might. Four great, big, flat shards of ice fell down from it; they might have been leaves, once. "We slide down there, uh!" He put one big foot on one of the ice shards, used the other foot to kick off, and soon was snowboarding down the slope in front of us.

Tom, Manny, and Samus all looked at each other nervously. Each of them walked toward one of the ice sleds and then, cautiously, stood on it. They were slippery, and both Tom and Manny had trouble balancing at first; Samus had a little trouble, but she was very good at adapting to new situations. Then, at Samus's lead, the three of them kicked the snow with one foot until they were on the slope, and then they could put both feet back on, for gravity would take over from there.

Well, it took a moment for gravity to _really_ kick in; it was a fairly gentle slope. Still, slowly but surely, the ice-boards accelerated as they slid us down the mountainside. Once we really began picking up speed, the blizzard around us got lighter, clearing up the area around us. Tom finally got a good look around him – and the sight itself made his body numb. Far to both our right and our left, the land simply came to a stop; our little slope stood alone, high above all else in sight. Far in the distance, beyond the valleys, were plateaus full of rolling snow-covered hills and snow-covered forests. In front of us, the slope downwards went on and on all the way to the horizon in uneven, round steps. Snowy hills and, near the horizon, a completely frozen-over lake complicated the otherwise simple path down.

We finally caught up with Yeto (who had, I think, slowed down for us). "It pretty, uh? We enjoy view while travel! Oh, penguins!"

Everyone looked around and noticed that to our left there was, indeed, a group of penguins now sliding on their bellies beside us. They were purple, man-sized, somewhat rotund penguins, and had slid right out of a cave. Yeto waved to them; their leader, a large penguin in front of the rest, squawked at him in a friendly manner.

Tom was getting the hang of maneuvering his ice-board. He tested his abilities, moving himself left and right, crouching to gain speed, etc., until he was more confident in his control. We weaved between some large boulders and then between a few trees, passing by some rather moody-looking, ice-covered bats flying between the trees. They looked at us hungrily, but we were going pretty fast by now and slid away before they could do anything.

Manny, who was slightly ahead of us, turned his head to make sure Tom was still okay. He met Tom's eyes, smiled, and gave a thumbs-up before shifting his attention back to the road ahead. This must have been some sort of trigger, because suddenly there was a single tear dripping down Tom's face. It wasn't a sad tear, but it wasn't a tear of joy either. "Bittersweet", I suppose, is the word for it. Something about the strange yet magnificent scenery, Manny's thumbs-up, and – I think – the uncertainty of whether he would live to see tomorrow all swirled around in Tom to create some unstable, unpredictable storm of emotion.

Yeto was sliding toward a gently curved boulder right above a short stretch of more steeply sloped ground. Rather than dodge the boulder, he slid into it head-on. He didn't crash, though; it acted as a ramp, lifting him up into the air. When he landed, the penguins squawked in applause.

The curve of the snowy mountain went down in steps, going from flat to steep to flat fairly often. At the end of the next flat stretch, Manny eyed another boulder curiously. Then he made his decision and crouched to gain speed as he approached it. Manny kicked off from the natural ramp, pushing him into an even larger and higher arc than Yeto's.

"Very good!" said Yeto, smiling and clapping while the penguins squawked. "You get fifty points!"

Manny landed back in the snow, which pushed it up from below him, filling the air with white powder. "Points?"

"Yes, points, why not! You do tricks, you get points, uh!"

"Sounds fun! C'mon, Tom, it's your turn!"

For a moment, Tom became nervous. He looked at another smooth boulder preceding the next "step" down, and I felt his indecision. Then his brow creased and the indecision disappeared. He sped toward the boulder and kicked off with both his legs once he reached it. The arc of his ascent wasn't quite as great as Manny's, but almost.

"Oh, you do good! But did not beat four-arms! You get forty points!"

The penguins squawked, and Manny gave another thumbs-up, and Tom's face broke into an wide grin.

"Hey, you're up next, Samus!" said Manny.

Samus, although she was sliding down the mountain at a great speed, was so rigid that she might have been made of stone. "No thanks. I think I'll pass."

Manny looked disappointed. "Oh well. C'mon, Tom – again!"

As they continued their trip down the mountainside, Tom and Manny kept up their little competition. Their tricks got riskier. They tried spinning in the air – both horizontally and vertically. When the area got hillier, they would use entire hills as ramps. Manny actually swung from the branch of a tree to build momentum in one instance. The penguins always squawked, and Yeto always clapped and shouted a number of points which seemed completely arbitrary and baseless. After a while, Samus realized that absolutely nobody was keeping track of these points; they were, well, pointless. They were there to give the player a momentary burst of pleasure and, having fulfilled their purpose, were promptly forgotten about while focus shifted to the next trick.

We finally reached the frozen lake. At its edge, the penguins stopped. As we passed them, they waved their fins and squawked at us in an apparent bid farewell. Now the four snowboarders were riding their ice-boards over solid ice. It was flat, but so frictionless that there was nothing to impede our momentum. Tom had some trouble balancing on the slippery surface and looked like he might fall. Manny, who was doing a much better job at balancing, slid over to him and held his hand. Tom's path was much straighter now that he had Manny's support, and they continued holding hands as they slid across the lake.

Near the horizon, were anyone to look hard enough, they would now be able to see a thin line rising up into the clouds. The vessel to Draco was getting closer. We got to the other end of the lake, and the ride downward continued, although it was starting to get less steep. Still, Tom and Manny continued performing tricks wherever they could.

Yeto slid next to Samus, catching her by surprise. "Why you always look so worried, uh? Travel not need be boring. Travel can be game! Can be fun!"

Samus thought about this. "…You can never be too sure," she replied. Yeto shrugged and went back to shouting random point values at Tom and Manny. But Samus continued thinking. Surely someone had to be on the lookout, just to make sure everyone was protected. You never know what might be lurking in the shadows, and _someone_ had to always be on guard just in case… right? It couldn't always be a game for everyone… right?

Past the lake, the terrain became more rugged, although no less white. Cliffs rose and fell all around us. Trees became a more common sight; as we weaved through a small cluster of them, we passed by two Glaceon playfully chasing each other. There was also a frozen creek that ran downhill from the lake; it went down at a steeper angle than the mountain around it, creating a narrow chasm. Tom stared at this chasm for a few seconds before he began to sled toward it. Without a trace of fear, he used a boulder at its edge as a ramp to jump over the creek some fifty feet below him and land on the other side of the chasm. He quickly pulled a similar stunt to get back.

"Whoa, risky one!" Manny said admiringly.

"Yeah, well, no point in holding back," said Tom, smiling. "I might die soon anyway, so why not?"

Tom was still smiling, but Manny wasn't. He suddenly looked quite solemn. After many seconds of silence, he spoke again. "Let's give it a rest for now, Tom. We should save our energy for later."

Tom complied, and the rest of the ride down was uneventful. The black vessel, contrasting with the white clouds and snow around it, got closer and closer. Once we were close enough to hear the low rumbling sound of the swirling vortex, Yeto grabbed a tree and came to a stop. "Bye-bye, little people!" he said, waving. Tom, Manny, and Samus all thanked him for his help.

The land was getting flatter, and near the vortex, the ice-boards were barely moving at all. Everyone got off of them and began walking normally through the snow. "Couldn't you have just ridden your Charizard down here?" Samus asked Tom.

"I guess so. But that wouldn't have been as fun."

* * *

The hour-long journey through Draco wasn't that exciting. I think that all of the dragons were too far above us to pay us any notice. There were some very, very tall mountains there, mountains so thin that one might more accurately refer to them as pillars. We could only see the faint, distant specks of unknown dragons spiraling around these mountains, flying in and out of caves, on and off of perches.

As before, Tom rode on Charlie and Samus rode on Jeffrey. The ground alternated fairly regularly between lush fields of grass and dry patches of sand. Also noteworthy were the two moons that took up a large portion of the sky. The closer, larger one was red with blue lines (rivers?) and round; the other was entirely red and shaped like a potato. Tom kept looking up at them in awe, but Samus couldn't be bothered.

As we approached our destination, the ground changed. Now it was made up of jagged, charred rocks, with tiny little streams of lava visible in the cracks, eager to push up through the surface. Fitting terrain, considering that we were near the planet's connection to the fire world. Tom had been put in a daze from the hour-long trip, but now he snapped out of it as we approached the next vessel. And then his focus became even sharper as he assumed his battle-ready state of mind, because there was _something_ flying at us.

It was a long, serpentine, red creature. The top half of its head was covered in some sort of horned skull. Along its neck was a long, flowing mane of orange flames. It came at us faster than Tom expected, and he nearly fell off when Charlie swerved to dodge the sudden stream of fire-breath that nearly incinerated us.

The serpentine fire-dragon continued chasing Charlie. Samus jumped off of Jeffrey. Deciding that this was no time to hold back, she entered Hyper Mode. The dragon – Samus scanned it and found that its name was Volvagia – now became the victim of several dozen rapid shots of Phazon. Angered, it gave up its unsuccessful pursuit of Charlie and flew toward Samus instead. This gave Tom time to release, one by one, every single Pokémon he had.

Soon, Volvagia was greatly outnumbered, surrounded, and completely overwhelmed. Elecrocuted, its flames dampened, its skin bruised and beaten, the dragon knew a lost cause when it saw one. It flew away from us as quickly as it could. We had no need to pursue it; Tom and Samus had made their point.

Tom withdrew every Pokémon except Manny. The great black vortex we were heading toward was a short walk in front of us now, and the three of them started walking toward it. We were barely a moment away from being sucked up again when Samus heard a roaring sound somewhere off to her left. She turned her head to find its source.

It was a disturbing sight: Volvagia had found a new target. It was now aggressively taking out its anger on a horned, four-legged, purple dragon much smaller than it. The purple dragon was fighting back, but Volvagia barely took notice of its attacks. Volvagia grabbed the purple dragon in its jaw and violently flailed its head. Blood flew around everywhere; Volvagia's teeth had pierced through the little purple dragon's skin.

Samus was paralyzed. In a normal mission, she would have run over to save the smaller dragon right away. Now, however, she faced a dilemma. Tom's safety was her number-one priority at the moment, and facing Volvagia again would put him in harm's way again just when they were about to escape. She felt stuck. Samus hated not being able to work alone. Having to worry about others was always a much, much greater burden than worrying about herself.

But Samus didn't have to make a choice – Tom had already made it for her. He was running toward the battle scene as fast as I'd ever seen him run. Samus chased after him. Tom released Kim and Ralph, both of whom arrived at the battle scene right away, attacking Volvagia, who had to let go of the smaller dragon in order to fight back. Now Samus was attacking it, and Tom released the rest of his Pokémon to have at it as well.

Volvagia didn't stand a chance. It could hardly decide what to do with so many opponents attacking it all at once. Manny delivered the final blow: a punch directly to the dragon's forehead. Volvagia spat a pillar of flames into the air while its tail fell to the ground; the rest of it slowly fell down as well until the whole dragon lay on the burnt rock surface, unmoving.

Manny looked upon the slain dragon with pride. "Oh, hell yeah," he said, putting one foot on top of the corpse and throwing his upper two arms into the air. "I, Manny Tasby, am _Dragonborn!_"

"Wow, thanks," said the little purple dragon. He was bleeding, but did not look seriously wounded. "You really saved my scales out there. That guy was strong – I thought I was a goner. Hey, what's your name? And what's up with these guys you're traveling with?"

He was talking to Charlie. Happy to be getting any attention, Charlie breathed out some smoke. "He can't talk," Tom explained. "His name is Charlie – he's my Pokémon. I'm his trainer. And, uh, you're welcome."

"Oh. Well, I don't know what that means, but... anyways, what was that guy's problem?"

"It didn't want us to cross the vessel," Samus explained. "And it got angry when it couldn't stop us. Speaking of which – come on, Tom, Manny. We should get going again."

Tom began withdrawing his Pokémon once more, leaving only Manny out. "Leaving already?" asked the purple dragon.

"We're sort of in a hurry," said Tom. "Bye, um…."

"My name's Spyro."

"Oh. Bye, then, Spyro."

* * *

I'm still not sure what material our little brown raft was made of. But it was lighter than lava, and that's what mattered. It was already floating atop the lava river when we found it; Manny had grabbed it before it could float away. Everyone had gotten on, and away we went.

The raging lava river was incredible – it must have been more than a mile wide. The yellow-orange substance that carried us forward was far smoother and more free-flowing than any type of lava you'd find on Pocket, and as a result, we were moving very quickly toward the next vessel. We'd somehow ended up right in the middle of the river, and huge volcanoes lined the horizon on both our left and our right; lava flowed down from most of their craters, feeding the river. The sky was a chaotic mix of fiery yellow/orange/red and black from the smoke that rose from many of the volcanoes.

This was one planet where Tom's suit (me) was a necessity; it was far too hot to survive for very long without it. Pokémon were made of tougher stuff, of course, so neither of the Pokémon who stood guard – Kim and Manny – seemed bothered by the heat. Tom looked around at the lava and volcanoes and felt justifiably nervous. He stepped closer to Manny on the little raft, which was barely large enough to fit the four of them. Once Tom stood right next to Manny, his anxiety eased considerably.

Kim was frantically shuffling all around the tiny space open to her, looking everywhere for enemies. She was startled when she actually found some, crawling up from the lava onto our little raft right beneath her snout. They were tiny little creatures, although the flames that sprouted from their backs made them look much larger than they actually were. Samus recognized the three-eyed little creatures right away. "Sovas!" she shouted, and she began firing on them. Samus had met Sovas on many of her previous missions. They were not a threat to be ignored – especially not when there was so little room on the raft they were attempting to invade. Kim followed Samus's lead and sprayed them with water, pushing them back into the lava river from whence they came.

While this was happening, Tom and Manny received a little scare themselves. Suddenly, a fireball popped out of the lava and flew at them. Fortunately, they both ducked, and the fireball flew over their heads before splashing back into the lava on the other side of the raft. In front of us, a couple of other fireballs very much like that first one popped out of the lava; luckily, they were nowhere near us. The thing is, we could now see that they had _eyes_. Protruding from those fiery, round, red-orange bodies were two beady black eyes. The fireballs were _alive_. And suddenly they were flying around all over the place. They splashed out of the lava as if thrown, and then they flew in an arc until descending into the lava once more. Despite Tom and Manny's newfound alertness, they did not find themselves in any of the fireballs' paths – but some of them went right over their heads, coming dangerously close.

"Tom," said Manny, "you aren't safe on this platform. You should get on Charlie again. You'll be safer above us. And you should probably replace me with… well, someone. Sorry, I just don't think there's much I can do here."

"Um…" Tom began. For some reason, I could feel disappointment sinking like a weight in his stomach. "Yeah, you're right. Okay… come on out, Charlie."

Tom released Charlie, who barely fit on the already-crowded platform. He withdrew Manny and replaced him with Ralph. Then Tom got on Charlie's back, waited for a pause in the fireball shower, and ordered the Charizard to take off once it came.

Tom was, indeed, safer flying above the platform than if he had stayed on it. The fireballs decreased in number but continued popping up randomly from time to time, and Samus and the Pokémon often narrowly dodged them. The Sovas were gone now, but only to be replaced by another relic from Samus's past: Magmoor. She'd killed plenty of the fire-breathing, lava-dwelling, serpentine creatures back on Tallon IV, and here they were again. Samus couldn't help but marvel at how many of her past nemeses she'd had to do battle with on that single day.

Still, the river continued carrying her swiftly to her destination. And this trip would be shorter than some of the others; the vessel to Voltus was relatively close to the vessel from Fross. The attacks on the raft became less and less frequent. Finally, the vessel appeared before us. It was hard to make out at first – it was a thin black line in a sky full of smoky black clouds. But it became more apparent as we went further downstream. The bottom of the vessel – its vortex – barely touched the river; most of it rested on the ashy shore to our right. Kim blasted a Hydro Pump to the raft's left side, giving it a small push that would keep it moving just a little bit rightward until finally reaching the vessel.

No more monsters attacked, to Samus's great relief. The raft approached the vessel without any obstacle; above, Tom and Charlie trailed just behind it. Suddenly, there was a loud booming noise from somewhere in the distance. The noise startled Tom, who looked all around worriedly; Charlie looked around curiously. Samus wasn't too worried, though. She could tell that it was a volcano eruption – but at the rate they were traveling at, they'd be on another planet before it could ever do them any harm. In fact, the great black vortex was right in front of them now. Samus prepared herself for another physics-defying trip….

Of course, she shouldn't have let her guard down.

Samus, Ralph, Kim, and the raft were suddenly all in the air, thrown apart from each other. It's a testament to Tom's commitment to his Pokémon's well-being that he managed to immediately withdraw both Ralph and Kim before they could fall into the lava, despite now facing the _thing_ that had so swiftly emerged from below. _Something _had popped beneath the raft so quickly that it had sent Samus and the Pokémon flying; it was so enormous that it now blocked Charlie's flight. Charlie had to come to a complete stop mid-air, nearly throwing Tom off. Charlie growled at the thing in anger. It was as if a small mountain made of lava had formed right before Tom's eyes. A mountain with a face. A face with a huge, gaping mouth. A mouth that appeared intent on swallowing Tom and Charlie whole. Tom's heart felt like it could burst open at any moment as Charlie swerved around and flew away. Tom and Charlie were a mere speck of dirt compared to this thing. And then another one rose up in front of us.

Samus, unlike the Pokémon, couldn't be withdrawn. She could only fall into the lava river. As she sank into the superheated substance, she could feel it eating away at her armor. But there was nothing she could do about that until she reached the bottom. Which happened sooner than she expected; the river wasn't all that deep, it turned out. And upon hitting the river floor, Samus immediately ran toward the shore as fast as she could. Thanks to her Gravity Suit, the fact that she was running through liquid did not slow her down. She ran uphill until finally emerging from the lava. Once she found herself on the black, ash-covered shore, she saw that the vortex was right next to her. And in front of her, above the river, was a terrifying scene.

Half a dozen of these mountains with faces had now risen up from the river. These Blarggs, as they were called according to Samus's scans, had forced Tom and Charlie to fly halfway to the opposite shore in order to escape. But that wasn't the half of it. The volcano eruption had now reached us, and flaming rocks rained down from above. Worse yet, the living fireballs were once again popping up from below – some of them were bigger than Tom and Charlie combined. All of this, plus the half-dozen Blarggs trying to eat us, made Tom very, very tense – although given the situation, perhaps not as tense as one would expect. On the shore, Samus attempted to take aim at something – anything – but Charlie kept flying every which way, and the last thing she wanted was to accidentally shoot him or Tom.

A seventh Blargg rose up to once again block Charlie's path. But rather than merely veering off to the side, Charlie decided to circle it. The great orange blob rotated to keep its focus on Charlie; however, once Charlie was facing the vessel, he flew forward as fast as he could. He quickly swerved left to dodge a fireball, then right to dodge a volcanic rock, then left again to just barely avoid the bite of a Blargg. From there, Charlie spun, looped, dived, and swerved every which way to avoid the rocks, fireballs, and Blarggs that were now chasing us from every direction. All the while getting closer and closer to the vessel. Tom's stomach should have been extremely unsettled by all of the movement, but I could tell that it wasn't. In fact, despite his extreme tenseness and mega-high heart rate, the boy actually began to smile. "Almost there, Charlie," he said, softly. Charlie roared; his eyes gave the impression of laser-like focus.

Samus was not the type of person to ever panic, but sometimes she came close. And this was one of those times. If Tom got eaten now, she would blame herself forever. And yet… the closer he came, the more she could see his face. And when he was close enough, she could see that, in spite of everything, he was somehow _smiling_. Samus couldn't help but wonder if she really had anything to worry about. Perhaps she wasn't always responsible for saving everyone; sometimes they could do it themselves.

There was only one more Blargg between Tom and the vessel. Charlie flew forward and to the left, avoiding all the debris and fireballs; the Blargg moved left to chase him. Now Tom's smile turned into outright excitement. "Yes, yes, yes!" he shouted for some reason as they prepared for the final close encounter. And it was close – Charlie just barely flew past the Blargg before it could reach him. And then, for his trouble, he came within inches of being burnt by a fireball. But Tom's excitement never waned. He threw a triumphant arm in the air as Charlie flew him into the vessel.

Samus was somewhat baffled by this behavior. Nonetheless, Tom and Charlie had made it to the vessel – that's what mattered. She stepped into the vortex to follow them.

* * *

Samus ran away from the vortex upon reaching this new world. She noticed the _clank clank clank_ sound that her feet made as she ran; obviously, the hard, grayish ground was made of some sort of metal. Nearby, Charlie landed, and Tom got off of his back. Samus was walking slower now that she saw the steep drop ahead. Tom, Samus, and Charlie slowly approached the edge of the land in front of them.

They found that, once again, they were at the top of a steep, sky-high cliff. The land far below us spread out endlessly in all directions. It was all made of silvery metal – but that's not the odd part. Every few yards there stood a tall, distinct, crooked metal pole with a sharp-looking top. It was as if the land had hair. Or was full of jagged antennae. The sky above us was dark gray with storm clouds, and though there was no rain, there was plenty of lightning. In fact, the lightning was constant; rarely a second went by without a bolt and a distant boom. The lightning, as one might expect, always hit the metal poles. I had to tint Tom's visor to prevent the lightning from harming his vision and block out some low-pitch noises from his audio receiver to stop the thunder from hindering his ability to hear. Tom looked upon the scene in absolute wonder.

Samus had other things on her mind. "Tom, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied immediately. Tom looked at Charlie. "You're fine, right?" Charlie raised his head and roared. He was fine. "What about you, though? You're the one who got dumped in lava."

"That's nothing," said Samus. "I can handle much more than that." Although Samus had known, logically, that Tom probably wouldn't be hurt, she felt tremendously relieved nonetheless. "That was a close call. It must have been a real scare."

"It was. Well…." Tom thought about it for a few seconds. "I guess it was pretty scary at first. But Charlie knew what he was doing. Once realized that, I put all my faith in him, and then there wasn't much to be scared of." Charlie spread out his wings and roared in pride. Tom slid his hand up and down one of the wings.

Samus had to admit, Tom was taking everything much better than most people would. And that, she supposed, was a good thing. But some of his behavior still puzzled her. Her memory flashed back to Tom's smiling face as a Blargg came within a fraction of a second of eating him alive….

"Everything's so amazing," said Tom. "All of this… and all of the other planets, too. Even the rides through the vessels. It's just all so _different_. Not only have I never left Pocket before, but until a month ago I'd barely ever been outside of Pallet Town before. And now there's stuff like lava rivers and Yetis and Pac-men and all sorts of crazy landscapes… I guess it's enough to make my mind numb. Even when I should be scared sometimes, I feel like it's hard to, because my brain's still so full of awe about how newand exciting everything is."

And Samus finally understood. Tom wasn't wearing a smile during such close encounters with death out of naiveté. He knew the risks of this mission all too well. But the overwhelming newness of these environments allowed the spirit of adventure to dominate his mind. And all the dangers and close calls were simply part of the adventure.

Suddenly, Samus laughed. Tom looked at her with raised eyebrows; I checked my memory and confirmed that Tom had never before seen her laugh. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was loud and sounded quite sincere. "You think _these_ places are amazing? This ugly electric rug below us, that's amazing to you? Listen, Tom – if you want different, I can show you different. There are places out there that will blow your mind and force you to rethink reality. There are places so beautiful, they make _these_ planets all look like toe warts in comparison. And I can take you there.

"Actually, how's this for an idea? To thank you for helping me complete this mission, sometime later, I'll come back to Pocket to pick you up. I'll have a whole list of options with me – all of the most spectacular places in the galaxy. I'll let you figure out which options you'd prefer, and then we're off on another adventure. How about it?"

Tom smiled. "Another adventure? I like the sound of that. I'm looking forward to it already." Tom did not ask whether Manny or Peter or April or Opal could come with them, but that was a minor detail to be resolved whenever it came up. Assuming Tom lived to see that moment. I noticed that there was a total lack of "ifs" in Samus's proposal. Perhaps that was why she made it – to help eliminate some of the _ifs_ plaguing their minds.

"But for now," said Samus, "we need to focus on how we're going to get to Aquatica. This storm won't make it easy."

"Yeah… wow, we're really getting there. If Aquatica really takes us to the surface, then…."

"Then we're still not completely there. In fact, chances are, we'll have to start again from scratch even if we do make it to the surface. Oscelon is unthinkably big. We don't know where the Seed is and we don't yet know how to find out. And this is all assuming that Pactrick was right about Aquatica. If not…."

"Okay, I get it. We aren't there yet." Around Samus, it was difficult to celebrate anything until it was completely and fully over with. "Well, uh, if we can't go through the storm, then… I guess we'll have to go over it."

"How? Charlie's your only flying-type, right?"

"Yeah, but… I think he can carry the both of us, just this once. Are you up for it, Charlie?"

Charlie turned his back to Tom and crouched, ready to take him on once more. Tom smiled. "Whoa, not just yet. You've helped me so much already, the least I can do is get you healed up…."

* * *

The storm clouds formed a dark gray carpet beneath us. Above us was a yellow-orange sky – full of bright stars, as with the other planets, but which also contained dozens of small, oddly-shaped moons, which diverted much of Tom's attention.

Charlie was holding up remarkably well, considering the circumstances. The circumstances were that he was flying above the clouds on a rather long-distant trip while carrying two passengers who were both roughly as large as he was. There was only room on his back for one person, so Charlie was, in fact, sandwiched between Tom and Samus; Tom rode on his back while Charlie carried Samus beneath him with all four limbs, grasping her with her front claws while squeezing her between her hind legs. It was a heavy load, and a lesser Pokémon might have given up. But Charlie was tough even by Charizard standards. And it helped that Tom had given him a couple of X-Attacks before the flight to boost his strength.

"You doing okay, Charlie?" asked Tom. Charlie growled, mocking offense at even being asked, and flapped his wings. Actually, he had gradually been getting slower, although the difference was small enough that Tom likely did not notice. But I notice everything. Such as Charlie's increasing shortness of breath. I was still confident that he could complete this journey, but it would certainly be hard on him.

The journey above the clouds was a long, silent, unchanging one. So it took everyone by surprise when a smaller cloud rose up out of the larger ones. Perhaps the surprise delayed their ability to process the fact that this cloud, unlike most clouds, had spikes; a line of yellow, conical spikes circled around it. And then it opened its eye.

Yes, add "sentient cloud" to the list of surreal monsters we had to face that day. A sentient cyclops cloud, from the looks of it. The white, puffy thing flew in front of us at the same speed we were going. For a moment, Tom, Charlie, and Samus stared at it, and it stared at them. Then its single eye widened a little. Tom noticed – and he anticipated what was coming next. "MOVE!" he shouted to Charlie.

Charlie swerved to the right in the nick of time; had he waited half a second longer, we all would have been struck by the powerful bolt of lightning that the cyclops cloud (cycloud?) attempted to zap us with. Undoubtedly, this sentient cloud was quick to realize what a tremendous mistake it had made. Samus unleashed a furious shower of missiles and charged Plasma Beams unto it; Charlie blasted the thing with a five-tipped Fire Blast flame, and then another. Clearly outmatched, the cloud withdrew back into the larger, darker cloud that covered the land below us.

"Perfect," Tom said happily as he scratched Charlie's neck. "Mewtwo won't stand a chance."

About one minute later, we finally got a glimpse of the promised land. Or promised vessel, I suppose. But we got a glimpse of some land too, because as it happened, the storm clouds cleared up right above the land that touched the swirling black vortex. Well, I say "land", but that's not entirely accurate – the vessel was connected to a lake. The lake itself covered the top of a pillar-like, almost cylindrical mountain; it looked like an absurdly straight volcano filled with water at the crater. Water from this lake formed a raging whirlpool around the black vortex; some of this water fell off of the mountain in two magnificent waterfalls, each on opposite sides. Perhaps the lake didn't deplete because it was being supplied with water straight from the vessel that connected it to Aquatica.

Both Tom and Samus were encouraged that the end was now in sight. When the clouds had almost cleared beneath us, Charlie dived to take us closer to the vortex. This turned out to be a very damaging mistake.

We then learned, unfortunately, that we had been stalked. The cyclops-cloud had been following us, obscured by the other clouds, for the past minute. And now it was above us. A position from which it could much more easily strike us with its wrathful lightning. And that's exactly what it did.

Would Charlie have been able to take the attack under more normal circumstances? Probably. But he had just flown a long distance while carrying two heavy bodies, and he was exhausted. Tom and Samus both wore suits that, for the most part, protected them from the electricity, but Charlie did not.

The lightning did hurt Samus a little – but that was nothing compared to the horror of realizing that her ride had lost consciousness and had let go of her. Tom clung onto Charlie with even greater horror as the two of them descended in a tailspin. Momentum carried the three of them forward while gravity pulled them downward, so they were now falling in an arc with an endpoint in the lake. However, as they fell, the distance between Samus and Tom increased. That's what worried Samus the most.

With a _splash_, all three of them simultaneously landed in the whirlpool; Tom and Charlie were much closer to a waterfall than Samus was. Samus expected to sink immediately, but found, to her surprise, that the liquid she now found herself in was much denser than water. Unknown to her, my analysis found that the lake was not only composed of several different liquids, but was also saturated with a number of dissolved minerals and metals. What this meant is that if Samus stroked with all her might, she could stay afloat. In spite of the vicious current of the whirlpool, she could even swim. But she didn't really need to swim, for the whirlpool was taking her directly to the lip of the vessel. Then she looked at Tom – and the sight filled her with dread.

The current was not pushing Tom toward the vessel; it was pushing him toward the waterfall. Perhaps if he swam, or took out Kim to ride, he could get deeper into the whirlpool, where the waterfall would no longer be of concern. That's not what he was doing. Charlie was in danger, and Tom was holding onto him with all his might. Charlie, being a fire-type, would not last long if he were completely submerged in the lake. Tom was holding up his head to allow the unconscious Pokémon to breathe, but merely being in the lake would do great harm to him nonetheless – the flame on a Charizard's tail is like a vital organ. Tom's focus was one hundred percent on Charlie, not the waterfall.

"SWIM!" Samus shouted. Instead, Tom reached for Charlie's Pokéball. "FORGET HIM!" Samus yelled, but she realized how pointless that was even as she yelled it. In his situation, she knew, she'd be doing all she could to save Charlie. For a moment, she found herself feebly hoping that Tom was far more self-centered than she was. It was not a feeling she could control; that's simply how much she dreaded watching the boy drift toward the waterfall, helpless to do anything about it. The current was too strong; Samus could not swim against it. That didn't stop her from trying.

Tom successfully withdrew Charlie and then immediately heeded Samus's advice, attempting to swim toward the center of the lake. But it was too late. Samus was near the vessel now, and Tom was but a distant speck to her. The last thing she saw, before the current pushed her into the black vortex that was the lip of the vessel, was Tom falling into the waterfall and out of sight. The descent was thousands of feet – into an electrified river.

* * *

_Author's Note: Just four chapters left, folks._


	36. Oscelon Part 3

Samus could hardly tell where the vessel ended and Aquatica began. The darkness never lifted, for one thing. And while the feeling returned to her body, it barely mattered – there was nothing to feel. No ground, no ceiling, no walls – no anything. Just water. She was in free fall – and she had been for a short while already when she finally realized it. Thanks to her Gravity Suit, she fell and fell as if the water were air, although she could neither feel the fall nor see anything but darkness. Yet she was definitely falling away from the vessel. Away from Tom.

Samus briefly considered taking her suit off and swimming back up to the vessel. But that, she sadly concluded, would be pointless. Even if she somehow survived the water pressure and managed to hold her breath that long, what could she do? She would only end up back in the whirlpool, which would in turn carry her back to the vessel. And Tom had fallen down a waterfall. At this point, he was either alive or he wasn't.

She couldn't help; she couldn't even swim. The dark, floorless ocean had turned her into little more than gravity's puppet. She was useless. The one thing she dreaded more than anything else. Most of Samus's nightmares were about being useless. She would see a stranger in these nightmares, or perhaps a small animal, and a hideous Space Pirate would approach – yet Samus would find that her body was suddenly incapable of movement. The Pirate would kill the stranger under Samus's nose, and then it would run away without even noticing her – and there would be nothing Samus could do about it. Samus could never fall back asleep if she woke up from one of these nightmares. Yet here she was now, falling into the abyss, unable to move. Unable to save even the single fourteen-year-old boy she'd been trying to protect. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Samus flung her fist downward. She wished she had something to bang it on. Furiously, she shot her Power Beam every which way. She wished she had something to shoot at; something real and tangible to be angry at. Instead, her anger went everywhere. It expanded beyond anger at herself and became anger at the universe, anger at _everything_. And then, after a few moments of aimless rage, the anger homed in on a single target. She suddenly felt furious at whoever had created the Metroid series of video games.

It was a bitter resentment that had been brewing, beyond Samus's notice, for weeks. But only now did Samus become aware of how angry she was at these game developers. Frankly, the very concept of a video game troubled her. Why did people keep putting these electronic avatars in such horrible situations to begin with? Samus had spent her whole life trying to keep others safe and out of danger. Yet it seemed that video games almost always involved putting the protagonist in an excessively hostile environment where almost every other creature wants him or her to die. And if the electronic character was supposed to merely be an avatar for the player, well, that was even worse. It meant people _wanted _to see themselves under attack, to see themselves die over and over – and to continue playing, knowing they will probably die again. What's the point? There's never an electronic award at the end, just a conclusion to a danger-filled quest that never had to happen. How was that entertainment? It was masochistic, perhaps even sadistic.

And yet, that was why she existed. That was her life had went the way it did. Some creative genius had come up with a character who had to blast her way through nerve-wracking missions within an inch of her life over and over and over. Because it was fun. And some bright young mind must have decided that this character needed a backstory. The man cheerfully let Nintendo in on all of his exciting ideas, such as having to watch her parents and her entire colony get slaughtered before her eyes. And having to watch her second home planet taken away from her all over again years later. And having to spend her life all alone, an outsider to the universe itself, because becoming too attached to any one thing, any one person, would prevent her from being the perfect warrior she needed to be.

All done in the name of entertainment.

Samus took a deep breath. It was dangerous to let her emotions get out of control like this. Samus had stopped being a slave to her emotions long ago – or so she thought. Yet, every once in a while, the pesky things would take hold of her while she had her back turned on them. Sneaky bastards.

And then, finally, the sight of a real, physical object allowed her to climb out of the labyrinth of her own thoughts. Nearby, there swam… a swordfish of some kind. It was a long, blue fish with large fins and a very long, very pointy nose. Samus scanned it and was surprised to find that it existed in her database. It was a species of swordfish found on the Mushroom World, particularly the parts near Donkey Kong Island and the Northern Kremisphere. The swordfish had noticed her – and now it was swimming towards her. Samus aimed her Arm Cannon. But if it planned on attacking, it would have come at her much more quickly. It calmly swam until it was directly below her. Without even truly knowing if it was a friend or a foe, Samus fell onto its back and grabbed on.

Apparently, it was a friend. The swordfish showed no objection to Samus being on its back. And, crucially, Samus had stopped falling now. The swordfish did not move. Samus realized – or, rather, hoped – that it was waiting for her to direct it. "We need to go up," she said firmly, pointing upward to make herself clear (even though there was no way it could see her). She patted its back. "Let's go."

For a moment, Samus was sure that the creature couldn't understand her. But then, miraculously, it began swimming. Upward. The fish swam gently at a forty-five degree angle, but Samus had no doubt as to where it was taking her.

There was still a chance. Tom might still be alive. And if so, Samus now had a perfect opportunity to reunite with him. She would ride this thing back to the vessel, and then, possibly, take it to Voltus to get her past the whirlpool. From there, it would be a simple matter of searching for the boy. Who knows – he could even be on his way to her right now. These were some of Samus's thoughts as the swordfish swam her upward in a spiral, taking her closer to her place of entry with each turn.

It was, Samus suddenly realized, no longer dark. There was light shining down from above. No, not a single light – many different lights. Many bright, yellow orbs. And they were moving; the orbs were converging to a point almost directly above her. Samus then saw that these orbs belonged to a group of creatures. They were Lanturn – the same blue fish that had helped her get to Marine Cave what now felt like an eternity ago. But Samus had known that those Lanturn were on her side. What about these?

The swordfish was swimming cautiously now. The caution, it turned out, was warranted. When they approached the group of Lanturn, the nearest one lit up even brighter. A moment later, _bzzt_ – Samus and the swordfish had been zapped. It hurt Samus, but she knew that the swordfish would be hurt even more; it hastily sped away from the scene, carrying Samus with it. This would be difficult.

"Goddammit," Samus whispered, "there's always something."

* * *

Humans are idiots.

Let's start with their pathetically sluggish reaction time. Granted, this is something they have in common with most organisms, but even so: most humans take at least one fifth of a second to automatically react to any new piece of information. A fifth of a second! In that time, I could read every known word ever written by every known human in history – multiple times. And still have time to spare. I have done this before.

And that's just automatic reactions. Their logical reasoning ability is _absurdly_ slow. No wonder they've been relying on us machines to do their math for them for thousands of years. And sometimes their ability to use logic simply shuts down altogether, such as when they're in fear for their lives – for example, when they're falling down a cliff toward a certain electrical death.

Yes, Tom was probably about to die, and probably about to take me with him. The suit he wore – me, effectively – could take a long fall. What it couldn't take was the sustained electrical barrage that would certainly follow. At the foot of the narrow mountain, both waterfalls crashed down upon different parts of a mighty, electrified river. This wasn't just the victim of the occasional lightning strike; it was constantly lit up. It must have been conducting electricity for some vast, planetary circuit, because the flow of electricity was nonstop. And we were falling right into it. Now, it's true that the suit survived the attack from that one-eyed cloud monster, but just barely – and only because I had time to do some quick repairs. In the river, there would be no time for repairs. The voltage would end us.

So, basically, we were falling to our deaths. I still don't see why Tom had to incessantly scream about it. He was in a state of absolute hysteria, which of course did us no good at all. Unlike me, he was doing nothing to come up with a solution to our current predicament. Which goes back to my point: humans are idiots. Even if an obvious solution popped up beside us, Tom's reaction time was so slow, and we were falling so fast, that he simply wouldn't have time to act. That meant he'd need to use logic to plan out something ahead of time – yet the human ability to use logic is not only laughably slow, it is also appallingly incomplete. Worse yet, they simply stopped using it right when its service was needed the most, such as during the plunge to our demise. Tom was simply too frightened to prevent his untimely death.

Well, it was my death too, and damned if I was just going to sit there (metaphorically speaking) and let it happen. Tom's brain may have been too unresponsive, illogical, and – above all – scared silly to be of any help, but mine wasn't. The situation was complex, so it took almost a full nanosecond to put together a plan. But I saw that there was hope – given that an advanced mind was put in charge. So I took over the suit. Nobody ever told me I could do this; I suppose it was a power nobody wanted me to abuse. But I could tell it was possible from the moment they put me in there – the limbs all had mechanical parts that I could easily control.

Now, two things to note about the metal mountain beside us. One: it was far from smooth – the result, I assume, of millions of years of corrosion. There were jagged protrusions, big and small, all over the place. Secondly, the wall-like side of the mountain was not perfectly perpendicular to the ground. It was at an 87, maybe 88-degree angle with the ground (a number that got lower toward the mountain's base). That may not seem like a significant difference, but it was one that could save our lives.

Tom was falling face-down; his head pointed at the mountain, while his feet faced the waterfall behind us. My first task was to change this position. The air resistance made it quite difficult, but after a few seconds, I managed to swing Tom's legs under his body. I then straightened out his body – but I didn't want his feet to face directly down, as if he were standing. Instead, I positioned Tom diagonally so that his feet were tilted toward the mountain, and his head tilted away from it. This insured that the air pushing up on us would also push us toward the mountain.

When our free-fall took us to the mountainside, it was time for the next step. Tom had stopped screaming now, thank God, but only because his horror was now mixed with a deep and unsettling confusion. Anyway, I made both of the suit's arms reach for the mountain; upon contact, I clenched the fingers on the corroded surface as well as I could. There was nothing to stop us yet, but that's a good thing – a sudden stop would have broken Tom's arms at best and killed him at worst. There was, however, friction, thanks to both the texture of the mountainside and the many rusty stubs just a little too small to grasp; the slight incline of the mountain helped us as well. Eventually I got both the hands and the feet scraping against the metal wall and slowing us down dramatically. Some sparks would have been a nice effect here, but alas, the metal didn't respond to the intense heat our friction produced.

We slowed and slowed and slowed… and, finally, stopped completely. I was grabbing on to a thin, twig-like protrusion of metal, although it wouldn't hold us for long. Tom was utterly catatonic at this point – and utterly useless, of course. Not that I needed him. A few hundred picoseconds were all I needed to know what path to take. There were other little protrusions along the blackened, silvery metal mountain wall, too – most of them thin as a straw. But one of them, some hundred feet away from us, was much larger, and that was my destination.

The next part was tricky, and I had to perform millions of calculations per second the entire way. Carefully, I swung from protrusion to protrusion, hanging one-handed on each one for no longer than two seconds before moving on. Sometimes I had to let go of the mountain altogether as I swung to the next grip – but I knew what I was doing, and never did I miss my target. This process continued until, finally, we reached our destination. If the other protrusions were like twigs, this spike-shaped one was like a branch; it extended a good ten feet from the mountain and was plenty thick enough to support Tom's body. After climbing onto it, I straddled Tom's legs over it and, feeling safe at last, released my control of the suit.

Understandably, Tom was still in a wide-eyed, unresponsive state of total shock. He was back in control now, yet he wasn't moving. So I said something to wake him up: "You're welcome."

Tom immediately looked all around, then down at the dark silvery spike he was currently straddling, then down at his own hands and body. I got the impression he was now processing the events of the past minute, having failed to process them as they were happening. Then he said, "Dexter, you… you were just controlling my suit, weren't you?"

"Ah, top-notch detective work as always from our resident child genius."

"Dexter… you saved my life. Thank you so much."

I had said "you're welcome" once and wasn't going to repeat myself. But Tom was, apparently. "Dexter, thank you."

"Yes, you already said that. And I already said 'You're welcome'."

Tom was breathing deeply; he still hadn't quite come to his senses. "Right. Well, um, thanks." Why the sudden obsession with thanking me? I was only saving my own circuits.

Gradually, Tom's jitteriness lessened as the boy came to his senses. Soon enough, his mind was clear enough to remember exactly what needed to be done. "Samus is waiting for me," he said. "She probably thinks I'm dead." He pulled out Charlie's Pokéball – but instead of opening it, he looked it over. "Poor Charlie. I've put you through so much today." He looked up and down the long, relatively thin spike he was sitting on. "And if I released you here, you'd probably just fall off." Then Tom turned his head to look at the mountain behind him. The mountain wall between here and the peak was somewhat different from the section directly behind the waterfall, where we had fallen. There were metal spikes all over the place – many of them as large as the one Tom now rested on. I felt Tom calm down somewhat; an idea had come to him. Tom put away Charlie's Pokéball. He slid up closer to the tip of the spike. Then, slowly and carefully, he slid his knees across the structure and turned around. Now that he faced the mountain, he took out another Pokéball: Manny's. "Be careful, now," Tom said as he pressed the button in the Pokéball's center.

After the familiar burst of light, Manny appeared, standing on the fattest end of the dark silver spike and touching the darkened mountain wall. He clung onto the jagged mountain face with all four hands. "You need a lift, I take it?"

Tom breathed deeply, becoming more relaxed, though he was still a little jittery. "Yeah. Um, sorry for the trouble, but…."

"No time to waste with your apologizing – Samus is waiting for us! C'mon, get on my back."

Tom slid closer to Manny and the mountain. Once he was behind Manny, he grabbed onto his Machamp's lower arms and carefully lifted himself up into a standing position. Just as carefully, he proceeded to lift his legs, one by one, over Manny's lower arms, bringing himself to rest on them while holding tight onto Manny's neck. With Tom now on his back, Manny began climbing.

He reached for any grip he could find, grabbed it, and pulled himself upward another few feet while his other hands did the same; he'd later use the same protrusions as footholds. This pattern continued as Manny climbed the mountain wall with great speed – far faster than any mere human would have been able to. And Tom rested comfortably on his back, his legs around Manny's chest, and his arms around his neck. Strangely, even though he was now in slightly greater danger of falling, he had finally calmed down almost completely.

"I almost died back there," he said. "And back on the fire planet, too. That was the closest I've come to death since… I guess, since that time Latios and Latias just barely saved us from Mewtwo." Wordlessly, Manny continued his fast-pace climb. Tom continued speaking nonetheless. "I guess I was expecting something like that to happen eventually. I mean, they did tell me I had, like, a three in five chance of dying out here." Still Manny climbed on. "You know what's weird, though? I mean, I guess I'm still _scared_ of death, but… I almost feel sort of ready for it. In just a month I've pretty much already gotten everything I ever wanted. I have best friends now, and my own Pokémon team, and even a girl… _and_ I'm Champion of the Pokémon League now. If I have to die now… I guess it's as good a moment as I could have wanted."

Manny didn't stop climbing – but his expression had become very stern. And, finally he spoke. "Stop worrying, Tom – you're not gonna die. No way in hell am I ever gonna let that happen. I don't care what those psychic-types say; I don't give a crap what percentage chance of dying they think you have. I'll fight against the numbers themselves if I have to. They're gonna put that decimal place where _I_ tell them to, or I'll pound them outta existence. I don't care 'bout some made-up numbers, Tom – I'm there for you, and that's what matters."

Manny's ascent never slowed down as he spoke. Afterward, there was a brief pause. "…Thanks, Manny," said Tom. After that, no more words were spoken; for the rest of the climb, the only noise was that of the raging waterfalls nearby.

Finally, after many minutes of climbing, Manny reached the peak. There was only a narrow strip of land between the edge of the cliff and the lake. Manny lifted himself up to this land, allowing Tom to drop off of his back. "Thanks a bunch," said Tom.

"No problem. Any time."

Manny wouldn't be much help from this point on, so Tom had to withdraw him. Then he sent out Kim. First, he had to make sure that she was strong enough to swim against the strong current produced by the whirlpool. Her attempts revealed that, yes, she could. Satisfied, Tom got on her back and clung to her as hard as he had clung to Manny. She swam him across the lake, fighting the current to bring him to the vessel.

* * *

Like Samus, it took Tom a moment to realize that he was no longer in the vessel; having reached the other side, he was now deep within a sea. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. But it wasn't complete darkness – far from it. There were many bright lights beneath him. And they were getting closer….

And then the place became a whole lot brighter as every Lanturn that could reach us zapped Tom and Kim with all the electrical power they could muster. The suit could only handle so much electrical damage; I was afraid it might malfunction. "SWIM AWAY!" a scared Tom shouted to Kim. Kim wanted to show these ungrateful Lanturn who's boss, and was angry to have to leave them. Fortunately, there was a productive way for her to utilize this anger: in a burst of speed that got us the hell away from those Lanturn.

Eventually, Kim had gotten us far away enough that the Lanturn were mere specks of light in the distance. Tom sighed, relieved. And his relief reached new heights when my radio receiver picked up Samus's voice: "Tom? Is that you?"

"Samus?" Tom looked around excitedly. To show herself, Samus charged up a Plasma Beam attack. In its light, Tom found her in the distance. She seemed to be riding atop some kind of swordfish. "Samus! Yeah, it's me!"

"You're okay. Thank God." It had been years since Samus had an urge this strong to hug someone. But this was not the time; they were deep underwater, and now the army of Lanturn was approaching. Samus had spent her time there sniping at them as much as possible while avoiding their attacks altogether. Down here, there was no way she and Tom could take on the whole group at once. Yet the lights were getting brighter, and it looked as though they might have no choice….

Then something strange happened. Suddenly, the Lanturn were facing a new foe – a whole group of them. An army of Milotic had unexpectedly swum up from the depths and was now battling the army of Lanturn. The sea once again lit up with electricity as the battle commenced. But though the Lanturn had thunder on their side, they fought cautiously, for Samus had weakened many of them. And the Milotic fought aggressively. Slowly, but surely, the Lanturn were backing off.

Tom averted his eyes from this fight when he noticed something to his left. Another long, serpentine Milotic floated there, separated from the rest of the group. It was staring at him. Suddenly, Tom recognized it. "Wait a moment – that's April's Milotic!" Samus wasn't sure how he could tell them apart, but she trusted his judgment. In fact, this specific Milotic did seem somewhat familiar to her, somehow, although she still wasn't sure what it was that made it distinct.

Milotic curled her tail in a motion like a finger beckoning someone to come closer. Then she swam away. "She wants us to follow her," said Tom. "Let's go!" Kim swam in pursuit of Milotic. Samus told the swordfish to follow them, and then they were off too.

Thus began a lengthy trip into deeper and deeper depths. Tom and Samus, riding on Kim and that surprisingly helpful (and surprisingly resilient) swordfish, followed Milotic through the dark and featureless sea. The path wasn't straight down, but we were definitely heading downward. Miles went past where our group was the only thing in sight. After this long and lonely journey, Tom and Samus finally laid eyes on another creature: a lone Mantine swam above us. From below, Tom and Samus could see the two Remorade clinging to its underside, scavenging for food.

Gradually, more Pokémon appeared before us. A trio of Poliwag swam away to our right. We nearly collided with an entire school of Magikarp swimming in the opposite direction. Two long, eel-like Pokémon crossed paths beneath us: a Gorebyss and a Huntail. The rate of these appearances increased as we swam on. The seas had gone from empty to teeming.

And, inexplicably, as we got deeper, the waters were getting lighter. Samus had noticed this trend for a while but had attributed it to some visor malfunction. After all, how could it get _less_ dark as she got further away from the surface? Yet it was now bright enough that she could no longer deny it. There was no obvious source to this light – it was just sort of everywhere. This was not a typical sea.

Now the Pokémon were actually taking notice of us. A small group of Buizel playfully formed a circle for us to pass through. A Marill swam in rings around us before eventually losing interest. Several Pokémon took to following beside us for varying stretches of time – including, somewhat worryingly, a Wailord. Fortunately, the colossal blue creature went its own way after a minute or so.

Samus realized that a patch of water directly below them was brighter than all of its surroundings. And now there were water-type Pokémon everywhere – so much so that it was hard to keep track of Milotic. But Samus did keep track of Milotic, and was quite surprised when the Pokémon came to a stop. She was even more surprised to hear an unfamiliar, vaguely feminine voice.

"Hmm. This Milotic tells me that you are traveling to the surface of Oscelon. Is that so? Because if it is, you're almost there! The ball of light you see beneath you is a portal. Go into it, and it will take you directly to the surface."

Samus looked around, searching for the source of this voice. There was only one Pokémon closer to them than Milotic. It was a tiny, blue thing with a large head, small body, and very expressive eyes. It also had two long fins and two longer antennae. Samus scanned it.

MANAPHY

It is born with a wondrous power that lets it bond with any kind of Pokémon.

Samus wondered whether this "wondrous power" had something to do with the circle of light below her. Anyway, the way it was looking at her, she had very little doubt that this Manaphy was the one who had just spoken.

Samus and Tom looked at each other. Samus knew that Tom must be thinking the same thing as her: can they trust it? She answered the question before anyone asked it. "I don't think we have much choice."

"You're right," Tom agreed. "We need to move on. Ready, Kim?" Kim was more than ready; she was raring to go. Tom had barely finished speaking when she shot downward, toward the light. Before disappearing, Tom was sure to shout "Thanks, Milotic!"

Samus patted the swordfish. "You've been a big help, buddy. Time to part ways." She pushed herself off of the fish and fell, following Tom and Kim to Manaphy's portal.

* * *

Samus crawled out of the lake.

She wasn't entirely sure when she entered this lake, but apparently she'd been thrown across it, landing just short of the shore. She walked out of the water and looked back. Tom and Kim had, fortunately, been thrown across by the same force that brought Samus here. Kim swam Tom forth until the water was too shallow, at which point he got off and walked onto dry land while she slithered beside him. "Good job, Kim," he told her. Kim held her head up high, and although this Kingdra never acted particularly kingly, for a moment there she really did look almost like royalty.

The reddish ground was soft and squishy, like marshland, except that it was actually very dry – which was odd, considering our proximity to the lake. Tom and Samus now stood on Oscelon's skin. The vast lake in front of us was completely flat – there was no wind. The perfectly level water shone a brilliant pattern of lights that instantly caught Tom's attention. It took him a moment to realize that this image was a reflection. When he looked up and saw what was being reflected, he could barely believe his eyes. "Holy…!"

One could find distinct stars within the great spiral splotch of light that glistened above us – but one would have to look pretty hard. It looked more like a cosmic smear than a collection of billions of stars. Yet that's what it was. I'm sure that Tom had seen this galaxy on many occasions, especially on nights of the new moon. But this spiral light bore no resemblance to the streak in the Pocketian sky. "Is… is that…."

"The Milky Way galaxy. Yes."

"I've… never seen it from this angle before."

"I have. But only a couple of times."

Tom, Kim, and Samus stood there for a few moments, absorbing the image. "We're a long way from home," said Samus.

"Yeah. No kidding."

"The Milky Way galaxy. From here, you can see how it got its name. For most of human history we didn't even know it was a collection of stars. All we could do was compare it to something we were already familiar with – like milk. That's how the Standard word 'galaxy' gets its name – from the ancient Greek word for 'milk'. The universe was staring us in the face, yet we had no idea what we were looking at. That's how it still is, really. That's probably how it'll always be." Samus wasn't sure what compelled her to say all of this. But she could not deny that somehow, she felt more surrounded by unknowns at that moment than she ever had, even on her previous missions.

Another pause followed. Then Tom asked, "This is all just business to you, isn't it?"

Samus wasn't sure what to make of this question. "…What do you mean?"

"It's just, I mean, I bet there are millions of people out there who would cut off their own limb for a job as cool as yours. But you don't seem to really enjoy it. Like, when I see a river of lava, I think of how cool it is that I'm something a million light years away from home, and I'm getting to see this thing that doesn't even exist on my planet and most people will never get to see – and you're just thinking about how to get past it. Which I guess is better, if we want to live. Still, though… it wasn't always this way, right? Weren't you ever exited by all the exploration you get to do? Didn't you ever feel satisfied about how skilled you were when you blasted through planets full of Space Pirates and stuff, like how I felt when we beat Bouldergeist and Thardus and Volvagia?"

Samus had to consider this. She hadn't become a bounty hunter to have fun; she'd done it to make the galaxy a safer place. And she had always considered it a miserable job overall – a sacrifice she made for the greater good. She wouldn't wish the job on anyone. And yet… if she thought hard enough, she could see his point. People explore new lands just for the hell of it all the time. And all sports are played for the thrill of testing one's skills against another in the hopes of victory – although unlike her job, most sports are non-lethal. Still, might not the same logic apply? Samus had never really enjoyed any of her missions. Yet now, with Tom's spin on them in mind, she could almost retrace them in her mind and retroactively pin some enjoyment onto them.

Samus smiled; this boy had an interesting perspective. "Trust me, it's not an enviable job," she told him. "But when you put it that way… yeah, I guess it does have its moments."

Yet Tom was right about another thing, too – staying focused on the job could save lives. "I hate to say this, Tom, but… I have no idea where the Leviathan Seed is. I have no idea how we'll reach it."

"I believe I can help with that," said someone who was definitely not Tom.

Tom, Samus, and Kim turned around instantly to find out who said this. The answer left Samus in a state of shock. It was a humanoid creature, about as tall as Samus. But it was covered in grey feathers, and had a beak and talons. After the lore she had read, and after what Arceus had said, Samus should have anticipated this. But she had forgotten, and so the appearance of a Chozo caught her completely by surprise. The Chozo must have noticed Samus's shock. "Are you surprised to see me, oh great Protector? I was sure that by now you would have heard of the Chozo who chose to live here long ago."

Samus now remembered what Arceus had told her about a Chozo tribe who moved to Oscelon about a thousand years ago. The ones who later moved to Pocket and invented the Pokéball. But… "How did you find us?" she asked. "Why are you here?" Oscelon was immense – this Chozo could not have just been strolling by coincidentally. And frankly, Samus still had difficulty accepting that that this truly was a Chozo. It had been years since she'd seen any member of the race that had raised her; this sudden encounter had left her in disbelief. Which was why she had yet to tell Tom not to worry about him. Kim was still in a battle-ready stance, just in case.

The Chozo smiled, which surprised Tom, who had never seen anything with a beak smile. "We have agents awaiting you in many locations," the Chozo said. "No matter which path to the surface you had taken, you would have found one of us, for we have every single entry point covered. That's the how. As for the why, I have already answered that. I can help you get to where you want to go. It is very far away; without me, you will never find it. Please don't be frightened by me. We help you because we must; we will be the first to fall if you fail, Samus."

Hearing this stranger say her name made Samus's skin crawl. Part of her still didn't want to trust this thing who claimed to be a Chozo, and claimed to seek only to help her; her head was still spinning from the revelation. Yet she had no choice but to trust him. They needed to get to the Seed, and on their own, they had virtually no chance of finding it. Besides, Samus knew Chozo, and if this was an impostor, it was an extremely convincing one. And yet, if it really was a Chozo… "I lived with Chozo for a long time and never heard of any settlement on… here. Are you really that secretive, even from other Chozo?"

"Yes. That was one of the conditions Oscelon made us agree to in order to live here. We detached ourselves from the entire outside universe, even our own race." Samus was surprised to find how disappointed this made her. Not only would there be nobody she knew here, but also nobody who knew any of the Chozo she knew. She had been hoping that wouldn't be the case – although she hadn't been consciously aware of this hope until now.

"Um, excuse me," said Tom, "…does that mean you're one of the people who invented the Pokéball and left all those ruins on Pocket?"

The Chozo nodded at him. "Yes, that was my ancestors' doing. They went to Pocket a long, long time ago, and even settled there for a time. But then there was a… a disagreement, I suppose. The disagreement led to a schism. The schism led to a disaster. And the disaster helped us realize that it was time to leave. So we came back here, to Oscelon, and here we stayed."

"The disagreement was about your role in Oscelon's plan," said Samus, remembering the pieces of lore she had read. "Some of you took different approaches toward bringing the Pokémon series of video games to life. Is that right?"

The Chozo nodded and smiled. His eyes always had a sad look to them, giving all of his smiles a somewhat melancholy feel. "I see you have read the messages we left behind for you. Yes. Many Chozo did not want to believe that Oscelon had the power to change the course of events. They felt that this was an affront to free will; they did not understand the difference between guiding the universe and controlling it. These Chozo refused to believe that the games would be brought to life naturally, so they set out to do it themselves. Well, you've read the lore; you know how that ended.

"Oh, but there is a great irony to this. All of the changes these Chozo made were part of the Pokémon games. Those games were kept secret from us Chozo, and we were given only scarce hints of what they contained. And yet this group of Chozo put Braille engravings on parts of Pocket without having any idea that these were in the games. They created the legendary Pokémon Regigigas – a move that ultimately led to their downfall – without realizing that this very Pokémon appeared in the video games. Oscelon's plan was carried out without any conscious awareness on their part – so, in the end, they were disproven by their own actions."

"That's really weird," Tom said plainly. "I still don't think I get that. How does Oscelon do that?"

"If you are asking about the specific mechanisms involved, then I do not know. Nobody knows. The only ones who knew were the Ancient Ones, and they are locked away in Oscelon's brain now, and their secrets locked away with them. But I think of it as being like a natural, non-conscious impulse. Just as you blink and breathe without conscious action, Oscelon somehow made the universe naturally want to shape itself to conform to the video games it has extracted the Life Energy from. But of course, Oscelon does not have anything close to full control over the universe. If it did, we would not be in the mess we are currently in. Mewtwo would not have been able to do all of the terrible things he did."

"I have to agree with Tom, here," said Samus. "The whole thing just strikes me as nonsensical. How could video games be made real? They were never intended to be realistic. They were pure fantasy, meant for escape from reality. I don't see how you could bring something like that into real life."

"Ah, but Samus, how could video games _not_ be real? They were created by humans, after all. And what did humans have to work with? Like all artistic mediums, they were merely finding a way to express the things they experienced in reality. Think about it: what, exactly, is a game? I say that it is a goal. Even in games without an explicit goal, those who play will still try to accomplish something – to score a high number of points, or to discover new areas, or learn new abilities. And what is life, really, but a never-ending series of goals? Humans are always trying to earn a living, or find a mate, or win an argument, or even just do simple chores. Perhaps that all becomes less mundane, more glamorous, when they express it as becoming the Pokémon League Champion, or defeating a Space Pirate leader. Perhaps it gives them inspiration. A player may die over and over again in their quest to save the princess – in fact, since harder games are often considered superior, the player may actually _wish_ to die many times. And all so that they can win just once, for with that win, they have affirmed their ability to succeed even when failure seems certain. Basically, Samus, people want to be you, even if just for a short amount of time – because when they're being you, their mental state is no different from that when they're applying for a job, or asking a girl to dance. So I say that video games, far from being unrealistic, are simply a different take on reality – the same scene viewed from a different angle.

"And besides, if you believe that it seems impossible, well, that's more absurd than to believe it possible. We live in an extremely open-ended universe, and an extremely vast one as well; the possibilities are literally infinite. Even we Chozo do not know one millionth of what is out there."

There was a pause, during which Samus had to suppress the urge to get lost in thought again. She wanted time to process all of this. But right now, she did not have it, and she had to stay focused. "You say you can help us get to the Seed. How?"

The Chozo slowly nodded his head. "Well… there might be a fast way. Young trainer…."

"It's Tom."

"Oh, right. Ha. I suppose we never did formally introduce each other. You can call me Silver Talon, for what it's worth – which isn't much at this point, since we'll be separating shortly. But Tom… do you, by chance, happen to have a Pokémon who can teleport?"

"I do." Quickly, anxiously, Tom took out Albert's Pokéball and released him. Albert, who now stood between Tom and Silver Talon, inspected the Chozo with a suspicious eye; Tom may have already come to trust this stranger, but Albert was more cautious. He took tiny steps toward Silver Talon, glaring deep into his eyes. Silver Talon stared back without moving. Finally, Albert turned to face Tom, pointed at Silver Talon with one outstretched arm, and made a thumbs-up with his other hand. Tom relaxed a little. I don't think he had distrusted the Chozo to begin with, but in cases like these, Albert's opinion meant a lot to him. Whatever his other flaws, he was easily the most perceptive and intelligent Pokémon on Tom's team; he was, after all, an Alakazam.

Albert walked up to Silver Talon; the Chozo put out his claw-like hand, and Albert took it in his. Albert shook hands in a wildly exaggerated manner that seemed to amuse Silver Talon. When they let go, Albert put his hand to his side, but Silver Talon raised his until it was touching Albert's head. Tom's anxiety increased a little, but if Albert wasn't worried, he had no reason to be. The Chozo and the Alakazam stood like that for about fifteen seconds until, finally, Silver Talon's hand fell back to his side.

"Now your Alakazam knows where to take you," said Silver Talon. "I just gave him all the information he needs to Teleport you there."

"Really?" Tom said as he and Samus stepped closer to Albert and the stranger. "Will it… will it really be that easy?"

"It's too far a distance to cover in a single move, so your Alakazam will have to make several stops on the way. But it shouldn't take more than two minutes overall, so yes, it is that easy. Do you want to go now?"

"Of course we do," Samus said without hesitation. She felt that a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her fear had been that simply finding the Seed would make getting to the surface of Oscelon look like a cakewalk by comparison, but if this Chozo was correct, then this fear was entirely unwarranted.

Tom withdrew Kim. Then Tom, Samus, and Silver Talon all stood in a circle around Albert. Following Silver Talon's lead, all three of them put one hand on him. "Ready, Albert?" asked Tom. Albert, his eyes closed in concentration, nodded. "Okay, then – let's go."

* * *

"We're there," said Silver Talon.

Samus looked around. At first, nothing seemed different. Indeed, the same vast, featureless, red plain had presented itself several times in the past two minutes – each time in a supposedly different location, but they were all indistinguishable. Everything looked the same here. But then Samus noticed that the land in front of her, in contrast to the very flat terrain that she had come to associate with Oscelon's surface, was sloped downward. This realization allowed Samus to perceive more and more of her surroundings until the full picture became clear. The crater's slope was so gradual that the whole thing blended in with the flat land surrounding it. But now that Samus saw it, it was all that she could see. From there, Samus could not tell how many miles wide the crater was, but needless to say, it was enormous. And at its very center was a little thing jutting out, like a stick in a stadium of mud. But Samus knew that this was a trick of perspective; this "stick" was actually a Leviathan Seed, and nearly as big as a small mountain.

"Wait, is that it?" asked Tom. "That thing over there?"

"That's right," said Samus. "I'd recognize one of those anywhere."

Tom stared intently at the Seed. Until now, getting here was merely an idea; now it was staring him in the face. And he couldn't look away. Samus and Albert stared with equal intensity.

"I've done all that I can, I think," said Silver Talon. "Unless there's something else you'd like to ask me?"

"There is one thing," said Samus. "This has been bothering me for a while now. How did this Leviathan Seed survive? They were all supposed to be gone. I got rid of Phazon years ago."

"You mean you haven't figured it out?"

"You mean you know?"

"Know? Not exactly. I don't have any information that you don't have. But my tribe unanimously decided that there can only be one logical explanation. Think about it, Samus. The Seed might have survived if large parts of it were mimicked and continuously rebuilt. Search your memory; do you know of any creature that can mimic and replicate its target?"

For a moment, Samus had no idea what he was talking about. But then… "Wait – impossible! You can't be talking about… the X Parasite?"

"Actually, I can. And I am."

"The what now?" asked Tom.

"The X-Parasites are the reason Metroids exist," Samus explained. "The Chozo created them – Metroids, I mean – to keep the X population in check. Think about that: these things were so dangerous that the Chozo decided to bring Metroids into this universe if that's what it took to stop them. The X find a host to infect and quickly kill it – but that's not the dangerous part. They can perfectly mimic any host that they infect; they can even copy its memories. And they can infect absolutely anything with any organic components. Even… maybe even a Leviathan Seed. Anyway, I killed all of them, I thought, when I put the B.S.L. research station on a collision course with their home planet, SR-388. If Silver Talon is right, though, then I suppose I missed one. But… I don't understand. How?"

"A very good question," said Silver Talon, "and one which we will probably never know the answer to. But we can still speculate.

"Here is what I believe happened. Once, long ago, a Leviathan Seed from Phaaze must have gotten too close to SR-388. It did not collide with the planet, obviously; perhaps that was the X Parasite's doing. Perhaps the parasite had enough control over the Seed to make it change course. Whatever the case, upon infection, the X would have tried to kill and mimic the Seed just as they do with all hosts. But a Leviathan Seed is not like any other host any X has ever infected. It is a huge, complex, and above all, deadly organism. It would have internally fought back; the Seed and the X would be locked in a perpetual duel. And then you destroyed Phaaze, rendering Phazon inert, killing all of the Leviathan Seeds… except one.

"Now, did the X ever succeed in taking over and, essentially, becoming the Seed? Personally, I think not; mimicking an entire Leviathan Seed would be an incredible feat. I find it more likely that the X reproduced continually to mimic, and thus replace, certain parts of the rotting Seed. When all other Seeds from Phaaze died, this one alone could stay alive… although just barely. It would be dormant, I think, floating aimlessly through space. That is, until Mewtwo found it."

Samus couldn't believe the irony. In all her time as a bounty hunter, only two threats had made Space Pirates and Metroids seem like small potatoes by comparison. One was Phazon, which threatened to continue spreading until it consumed the whole universe. The other was the X-Parasites, which threatened to do exactly the same thing. Samus had obliterated both threats, save for a single case. These sole survivors had united to keep each other alive. And now not only were the two most dangerous threats to the galaxy united, but the result of this union was under Mewtwo's full control. What were the odds?

"Wait a moment," said Tom. "Oscelon was created to prevent some terrible thing from happening, right? It couldn't have been… all of this, could it?"

I could tell it would be a stupid question from the moment he opened his mouth. Silver Talon even chuckled. "Now that would be ironic! Oscelon, created to defeat something that would not even exist had Oscelon not been created – imagine! But no. This, sad to say, is a wholly unrelated catastrophe."

The four of them then stood there for a moment, all in a deep state of contemplation – although for Albert, this contemplation pertained to how long he could balance his spoons upon his nose. A very long time, I would imagine, but he stopped trying once he saw Tom pull out a bunch of Pokéballs. Soon there were nine Pokémon among us – Tom's six, plus the three he was temporarily holding onto. Charlie was the only unconscious one, so Tom tended to him immediately. Several minutes later, after one Revive and many Potions, Ethers, and Elixirs, all nine Pokémon were as strong and healthy as ever. One by one, he withdrew every Pokémon except Charlie. "Sorry, Charlie," said Tom, "I think we're going to need your help just this one last time." Charlie roared in approval.

Tom, Samus, Charlie, and Silver Talon all stared at the distant Seed at the bottom of the crater. Samus waited to see if Tom or Silver Talon had anything to say. Apparently, they didn't, so she spoke instead. "Tom. Listen. Mewtwo's waiting for us in there, and he'll do anything it takes to kill us. Even if we somehow manage to destroy the Seed, even if he loses, he'll try to take us down with him. Once we go in, there is a very good chance that we will never come out. Are you ready to take that chance?"

"Of course I am," Tom said without hesitation. "We've made it this far, haven't we? And if Mewtwo gets what he wants…." He paused for a moment. "I want to do everything I can to keep Peter, and April, and Opal, and my mom, and everyone else safe. I'm okay with dying for them if I have to. I already knew I might. Heh, maybe that's why I've been so excited about everything today. It's so much easier to see the good side of everything if it's about to disappear on you. Like a last meal." Samus's hand, to the mild surprise of its owner, patted Tom on the back.

"And Silver Talon, you don't have anything left to tell us?"

"All I can do now is wish you well with all of my heart."

"Okay. And Thanks." Samus looked at Charlie. "Leviathan Seeds are usually full of holes you can enter from. We can fly into one of them, but it means that Charlie will have to carry both of us again, like he did on that electric planet."

"Don't worry, he can handle it."

"I never said he couldn't. Now let's go. The final boss is in there; all we have to do is beat him and then this whole silly game can end."


	37. The Leviathan Seed

Not until the Leviathan Seed was very close did its true size really sink in. Samus had seen buildings this large, but she doubted that Tom ever had. For him, a mountain might be a better comparison. The great mass of brown and grey leaned heavily to one side; its pointed top was even more crooked than the body. A few blue circles added some color to the body, as did some external veins of Phazon. Not only was its size clearer close up, but so was its grotesqueness; not a single part of it appeared even remotely smooth. It was jagged and flaky all over, as if its skin were about to shed, and lumps of all sizes filled up the entire surface area. This was one huge, hideous thing we were about to enter.

Samus had been looking for an entry point as close to the ground as possible. She found one about a third of the way to the Seed's top – which was still pretty high, but as good as we were going to get. Even with the Seed right in front of us, the hole she pointed to didn't look any larger than a freckle, if even that. Not until the Seed had become an endless, flaky wall blocking our path did the hole actually look large enough to fit Charlie and the two people he carried. And only when it was right in front of us did it appear to be much larger than we needed; Charlie would have plenty of room.

Charlie entered the hole and the light from the Milky Way disappeared. Only the flame on Charlie's tail lit his way through the colossal tunnel. He flew slowly, cautiously, forward, but the tunnel was so wide that there was little chance he would crash into its walls. The path curved more and more downward the further Charlie flew through it.

There was a dim, blue light at the end of the tunnel. When Charlie flew into it, the tunnel opened up into a large, wide, dome-shaped room. The blue, glowing stuff was everywhere. Gooey-looking blue circles glowed all over the floor. Glowing blue crystals, some of them as large as a human, poked out of the walls and floor. And thin, blue, chord-like veins lined the walls. Really, the blue glow of the room was even eerier than if it had just been completely dark.

Charlie landed on the ground in a clearing that contained none of the blue stuff that now surrounded us. A narrow path cut through the blue like a bridge over the sea; this was our only way forward. Tom pet Charlie on the head in praise of his efforts and then withdrew him. He then released Manny.

"Listen," said Samus, "if it's blue, and if it glows, _don't touch it_. It will eat through your suit before you even have time to notice. The same goes for your Pokémon."

"Right," said Tom, who grew increasingly tense. Samus walked forward, through the only path available to us; Tom and Manny followed behind her.

Looking around, Tom saw that the blue glow was not the only eerie thing about this place. Being inside of Oscelon was one thing – that was not an organism like anything else humans had ever discovered. Thus, you wouldn't know that you were inside anything alive. In here, that wasn't so. It was the sense of disorganization that did it. Everything was far too uneven, too randomly placed, to be artificial. There was something about the way all the veins and protrusions moved around in place, without reason; the way that waves of glimmer kept moving along the blue circles in pulse-like phases; the way there were little holes in the ground and ceiling here and there… we were very clearly inside a living being. And it gave Tom the creeps.

"There's something else you should know," Samus said as they walked. "I just thought of it when we got here; I wish I'd thought of it earlier. Arceus said that Mewtwo merged with this Leviathan's core. But when he left, he would never have just left this place core-less and unguarded. I'm not even sure a Leviathan Seed can hold up without a core… unless… he made some sort of temporary replacement. But he's even less likely to leave something like that unguarded. And each time I've destroyed a Leviathan Seed, there's always been _something _guarding it. What I'm trying to say is… Mewtwo might not be the only one we'll have to fight in here. There might be someone else helping him."

"Hm," Tom grunted.

"Eh, should be a piece of cake," said Manny. But for once, he did not sound as confident as his words would imply.

At the end of the path was another tunnel, although this one was much narrower than the tunnel we had entered the Seed through. This place was even more freakishly organic than the room behind it. The reddish walls oozed and glistened. Thick blood veins ran from the wall to the ceiling, or from one wall to the other, sometimes almost blocking our path. The blue glow was still there, but there were also large blue spots that didn't glow; instead, they reflected light like glass. The tunnel spiraled downward. Tom walked onward tensely, although there did not appear to be any other living beings in sight – other than the one surrounding us, of course. Samus was a bit nervous to leave the boy out of sight behind her, but she knew that what lay ahead was far more dangerous than anything that might sneak up from behind.

The end of the tunnel came into view. As they walked closer, Samus gradually saw that it opened into a room much larger and wider than even the one they had entered from. Just as gradually, she noticed that there was a substantial drop at the end of the hallway – the floor of this new room was many yards below us. A platform extended from the end of the hallway, obscuring her vision of what awaited. She instructed Tom and Manny to back up against the wall in order to remain unseen. They obliged. Samus carefully stepped forward to try to look around the platform and see what waited below. She was in for quite a shock.

Mewtwo was there; he was sitting near the center of the room, his hands on his knees. Meditating. But that wasn't the shocking part. Samus was right: Mewtwo had brought something else here to help guard the Seed. It was worse than Samus imagined. Something was suspended from the ceiling, held up by a number of thin, red strands. Something huge and black. It was all curled up, but Samus recognized it, and she knew exactly what it would be once uncurled.

Samus had been under the impression that the Metroid Prime was _the_ Metroid Prime, not _a_ Metroid Prime; in other words, the creature she had fought on Tallon IV, and ultimately killed on Phaaze, was unique. Not so, apparently. Not if what her scans now told her – confirming what she already suspected – were true. There was another one here; the thing suspended from the ceiling was identical to the creature Samus had found on Tallon IV. How could that be? Samus didn't know. She wasn't sure if she'd ever know. And right now, that wasn't the important question; the important question was what to do next.

"Damn," said Samus. "This'll be even harder than I thought. Before we do anything, we need to come up with a plan."

* * *

Before Samus even hit the ground, Mewtwo was on his feet and readying an attack. He flicked a small wad of Phazon at her; the split second she landed, she jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding it.

"I'm glad you made it," Mewtwo said, calmly. "It's been a while. I was starting to worry you'd never come."

"I'm here," said Samus. "And I've brought some friends."

On cue, out came the Pokémon. All at once, all nine of them jumped, or flew, down from the hole in the wall at the tunnel's end. Tom clung to Manny's back as the Machamp dropped about twenty feet down, absorbing the fall as easily as all of the other non-flying Pokémon.

Mewtwo seemed amused. "Is that so? What a lucky coincidence. I brought a friend as well."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked toward the giant black mass hanging from the ceiling. Then it started to move. It unfolded, revealing a creepy set of long, segmented limbs. There were five legs in total, but they were so oddly distributed that I doubt Tom could count. To him, the creature must've seemed like a massive collection of spikes – not just the contorted legs, but the long, conical head as well, not to mention the two short, limb-like stubs sticking uselessly out of where its shoulder should be, if its anatomy were anything even remotely normal. There were strange yellow markings all over its body. In the thin space between its pointed head and its round body, two glowing, menacing red eyes flickered into existence – as if its body weren't menacing enough.

The Metroid Prime dropped to the ground. It was now about thirty feet away from Tom – although the creature was so large that it must have felt like less. Tom stared into its eyes; it stared back. Strangely, I didn't feel even a spark of fear in the boy. I suppose he'd been through too much that day – come close to death too many times, fought too many strange creatures – for this to make much of an impact. Manny, however, seemed more concerned – Tom was still on his back, and since his fighting-type moves wouldn't do much against the Metroid Prime, it was his job to keep his master safe. He slowly stepped backward, increasing the distance between Tom and the Metroid Prime. The Metroid Prime crouched in anticipation of a charge forward; in that split second, Tom cried out "JEFFREY!"

Jeffrey did not need any instruction – he jumped between them, blocking the Metroid Prime's path. The Metroid Prime ran forward, but Jeffrey grabbed hold of it and stopped the charge right away. The two huge Metroids pushed against each other with all their strength while Tom called out attacks for the other Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo was drifting away from the battle scene. "Why don't we let them have their fun while we have ours?" he said. He wanted to get as far away from the others as possible so he could face Samus alone. Samus only partly obliged; she walked away from Tom and his Pokémon, but made sure not to stray too far. Unbeknownst to Mewtwo, three Pokémon – Gengar, Umanda, and Weavile – were to remain on the outer rim of Tom's fight, ready to help Samus at any time.

Samus entered Hyper Mode. With a flick of his arm, Mewtwo whipped several balls of Phazon at Samus. Samus dodged them and shot her own Phazon attacks at Mewtwo; he dodged these, too. Samus began charging up an attack. Mewtwo caught her by surprise with a Psychic attack to her legs. She didn't fall over, but she stumbled for a moment, and Mewtwo took that opportunity to hit her with a psychic/Phazon hybrid attack. Samus fired back with a fully-charged beam of Phazon; Mewtwo dodged it, but Samus swerved her Arm Cannon to hit him with the tail end of the attack. Then she exited Hyper Mode. If she hadn't, she would either lose more energy or become dangerously corrupted. It was a thing she could only do in short bursts.

They stood still for a moment, Mewtwo floating far above Samus. "So you've obtained some Phazon of your own," noted Mewtwo. "Good – that ought to make things a little more interesting. But remember: we're fighting on my home turf."

Then the wall attacked her. Samus wasn't sure what had happened at first; she only knew that a rushing stream of Phazon had hit her, and she had jumped out of the way as soon as she could. Now she could see that the stream was coming out of the wall. Of course: having essentially merged with this Leviathan Seed, Mewtwo must have a lot of control over it. Mewtwo summoned more Phazon streams from the walls. Samus jumped over them and ducked under them, all the while trying to find time to counterattack. Finally, she found a safe spot between three Phazon streams; from there, she entered Hyper Mode and fired away at Mewtwo. He dodged all of her attacks, but it broke his concentration, and the walls ceased attacking her.

* * *

Samus had told Tom all about the Metroid Prime she'd fought, so he knew what those yellow markings meant. If this was anything like the Metroid Prime on Tallon IV – something Samus herself wasn't certain about – then as long as they were yellow, the Metroid would be vulnerable to nearly all non-elemental attacks. This apparently included Jeffrey's venomous spit. As they struggled against each other, Jeffrey continuously spat on the Metroid Prime, which seemed to be quite effective. Meanwhile, Weavile slashed at it with her claws, Charlie flew into it, and Manny threw rocks at it. Albert set up a Reflect barrier around everyone. The Metroid Prime ignored all of this, focusing solely on Jeffrey. Its jaw hadn't been visible before, but now it opened it, and suddenly there was a gaping hole below its body. Out of this mouth shot a bright, yellow beam of light that struck Jeffrey on the chest. Jeffrey hopped back, hurt.

Then the Metroid Prime changed color. Not all of it, just the markings; they went from yellow to bluish-white. Thanks to Samus, Tom knew that it was now weak against ice-type attacks. But it would also be using ice-type attacks. Which meant that Jeffrey was now in danger. "Jeffrey, get back!"

Jeffrey did not get back. In fact, he did the opposite: he ran directly toward the Metroid Prime, deliberately disobeying Tom's orders. That took Tom by surprise. For a moment, his fingers pointed toward Jeffrey's Pokéball, and I thought he was going to withdraw him. But apparently, he decided against it. Instead, he told Kim and Weavile to use Ice Beam and Blizzard, respectively. The two Pokémon had to attack around Jeffrey while he fought against the other Metroid. Strangely, the Metroid Prime ignored them and attacked only Jeffrey instead. It was as if the two Metroids didn't realize they weren't the only ones in this fight. In one way, this was advantageous to Tom, since Kim and Weavile were free to attack without fear of retaliation. But it was very disadvantageous to Jeffrey. This became obvious when the Metroid Prime fired its beam of light at Jeffrey again – but this time, the beam was blue-white. And this time, it nearly froze Jeffrey on the spot. The Metroid Prime then used another weapon against the almost-frozen Jeffrey: it shot missiles out of its back that quickly homed in on him.

As the fight went on, Jeffrey did manage to hit the Metroid Prime some. But all the ice made him slow and weak, so the Metroid Prime's attacks were much more plentiful and powerful. It attacked with the beam, the missiles, and some strange, glowing balls that moved slowly but were quite damaging. By the end of the barrage, Jeffrey looked very hurt, but no less determined.

* * *

Samus knew, from experience, that Mewtwo would not concentrate as well if he were in a chattier mood. So she asked a question. "Mewtwo, why are you doing this? Why can't you just leave Oscelon alone? What's your motive?"

Mewtwo chuckled. "What an odd question! I'm not sure whether it's ridiculously simple or absurdly complex." He blasted a huge wave of Phazon at Samus. Even sprinting at top speed, she barely dodged it in time.

Samus entered Hyper Mode and opened fire. Mewtwo swerved in the air to dodge her Phazon shots. "I want to tell you that it's very simple," he said as he swerved. "I'm doing all this because I want to. I like power; it makes me happy. What isn't there to understand?" A shot of Phazon finally hit him; he countered with a psychic/Phazon blast that Samus couldn't dodge in time. She had to exit Hyper Mode again.

Streams of Phazon shot out of the walls once more. Samus dodged them, but she now also had to dodge Mewtwo's Psychic attacks as well. "But that's not the answer you're looking for, is it?" Mewtwo said while he attacked. "Power isn't an end in itself. There must be something else I'm after. Maybe so. But what? I like fighting, yes, but I could do that without conquering the universe. Sometimes I do wonder: what compels me to think so big and to want so much?"

Samus found the safe spot once more, and from there, fired a charged-up beam of Phazon at Mewtwo. The beam pummeled his chest for a second before he flew away as fast as he could. Once again, breaking Mewtwo's concentration caused the Phazon streams to disappear.

As Samus and Mewtwo attacked and dodged, Mewtwo continued his rant. "Now that I think about it, though, maybe I do have an answer for you. Unlike you and your teenage friend, I am not content living my life following the rules that have been set for me. I'm not fond of limits. But the only way to escape that fate is to make the rules myself. You're either a rule follower or a rule maker – that's just how things are. I believe that's what I'm after, Hunter: freedom. I will be faced with all the challenges I can enjoy, they will be however difficult I want them to be, and I will always be victorious… and this will all happen under _my_ rules, not someone else's. That's what freedom is."

A wall of tiny, blue Phazon beads enclosed on Samus. Many of these beads damaged her suit, but many others were absorbed into Samus's charge beam. This allowed her to fire a huge ball of Phazon at Mewtwo that smacked against his tail before he could dodge.

"Well?" Mewtwo said as a blue glow surrounded him with increasing intensity. "Don't you have some response to all that?"

"I do," said Samus, and she meant it. Everything he said, and everything she had heard and seen that day, and that month, was finally merging to produce a clear picture of what Mewtwo meant – and why he was wrong. "You're an idiot."

"Really? The one who nearly had the entire universe in his palm is an idiot?"

"In all the important ways, yes."

"We'll see about that." And then his body became the starting point of a wide, powerful beam of Phazon.

* * *

Finally, Kim and Weavile did enough damage to the Metroid Prime to make it change color again. It stepped back and shook around in pain while its form changed against its will. Now its markings were purple. Electricity. "Ralph, Static Battlefield!" Tom shouted.

The Metroid Prime ignored Ralph as it fired more missiles at Jeffrey, who dodged them. But Jeffrey knew what was coming next, and this time, he was smart enough to step back. It began as soon as Ralph jumped onto the Metroid Prime. There were sparks everywhere, lighting up every part of the Metroid Prime's body. The Metroid Prime moved around every which way, unsure of how to attack something clinging into its carapace. Finally, the sparks disappeared – but only because the Metroid Prime had changed again, rendering itself immune to electricity. Now it was blue-white, and once again, only ice could harm it.

Ralph jumped off and scurried away, but the Metroid Prime did not even take note; Jeffrey was still the center of its attention. Jeffrey took another swipe at it with his claws. The Metroid Prime used the beam from its mouth, encasing Jeffrey in ice. Right as he broke free, the Metroid Prime rammed into Jeffrey, knocking him into the ground. In an instant, the Metroid Prime was on top of him. The Metroid Prime had two short, sharp limbs at the front of its body. It now stuck both of these limbs deep into Jeffrey's eye sockets.

The Metroid Prime got off of Jeffrey, who didn't get up. It took Tom a moment to put together what had happened. Jeffrey hadn't fainted – otherwise, his Pokéball would have lit up. Tom looked at the unlit Pokéball in his hand as his face revealed his growing comprehension. Those sharp limbs had gone beyond Jeffrey's eyes; they had sliced through his brain. Jeffrey was dead.

It was as if nothing significant had happened. Beyond Jeffrey, everything continued as before; Kim and Weavile kept attacking the Metroid Prime, and the Metroid Prime moved away from Jeffrey's corpse to begin attacking Kim. It was the Metroid Prime's indifference, I think, that hurt Tom the most. If the Metroid Prime had stopped to celebrate Jeffrey's death, at least it would seem as though it meant something. Instead, it didn't even stop for a moment. It was as if Jeffrey were worthless, and his death, meaningless. Tom entered a state of pure fury as he stared at the Metroid Prime. "You're not going to get away with that," he whispered.

But Tom couldn't let his anger get in the way of the battle. Fortunately, he never did. His anger never subsided after that moment, but he was always in command. Thanks to his direction, Kim and Weavile only suffered minimal damage before forcing the Metroid Prime to change forms once again. It was now red. Fire. Now it was Charlie's turn. First he used Smokescreen to be able to evade the Metroid Prime more easily. Then he assaulted the thing with Fire Blast and Flamethrower. Whenever the Metroid Prime tried to fight back, Charlie would use ExtremeSpeed to make a quick escape. The whole thing went very smoothly – Charlie barely got hurt at all.

* * *

Samus had been charging up a Phazon beam of her own; now she fired it. Her beam and Mewtwo's beam met in the middle, creating a mild explosion at the meeting point. Both Samus and Mewtwo held steady. But Mewtwo's beam was clearly much stronger, and it threatened to consume Samus's beam until there was nothing left of it.

"UMANDA, NOW!" Samus shouted.

Mewtwo seemed confused about this outburst. He turned his head, but it was too late. The Dark Pulse grazed his back. This gave Samus the distraction she needed to jump out of the way while both of their Phazon beams disappeared. Samus rapidly fired away her remaining Phazon at Mewtwo, hitting him with the first few shots before he came to his senses and began moving. This slowness was due to his focus having shifted somewhere else: to the lone Umbreon standing beneath him, halfway between Tom's fight and Samus's. Samus ran out of Phazon, which automatically brought her out of Hyper Mode. Mewtwo stared at Umanda with fury on his face. "How dare you!"

Suddenly, Mewtwo was right in front of Umanda. Mewtwo swiped his arm, releasing a Phazon explosion that blasted Umanda all the way to the distant wall. Mewtwo pursued her. Samus shot at him with her Plasma Beam this whole time; many of her shots hit Mewtwo, but he didn't seem interested in avoiding them. He was far too focused on Umanda. "This is a one-on-one battle. Don't you dare interfere!"

A Phazon barrier now blocked Samus's attacks. But Samus was attacking Mewtwo's left side. Right before he attacked Umanda, he received an unexpected attack from his _right_. It was a Shadow Ball. Mewtwo turned his head to find Gengar pointing at him, laughing.

Gengar flew across the room, crashing into the wall. Mewtwo's Psychic was very effective against Gengar, a poison-type. But while Mewtwo attacked, Umanda and Samus had teamed up behind him. And then they both attacked. Samus's Phazon shots were effective enough, but when Umanda used Dark Revenge, it put them to shame. The darkness enveloped Mewtwo and everything around him. Well, for a moment, at least. After that he was near Gengar once more, eager to finish him off. Another Psychic attack sent Gengar tumbling across the ground. Tom saw that Gengar had fainted and promptly withdrew him. Then Mewtwo flew over to Umanda and finished her off with another Phazon blast; Tom withdrew her as well. Samus fired missiles at Mewtwo on the off-chance that they wouldn't disintegrate before reaching him; they did, of course.

Mewtwo flew toward a spot further away from the other Pokémon. "This is between you and me, Hunter," he said. "From now on, no more outside help!" Samus could only wonder why she was supposed to care about what he wanted.

* * *

As the battle went on, Tom and the Pokémon became more acquainted with the Metroid Prime's moves and fighting style, and thus, more able to fight against it. Tom made sure to keep Umanda, Gengar, and Weavile safe – they were to stick to the sidelines and attack only as needed. Of the remainder, Ralph, Charlie, and Kim were the only ones able to attack the Metroid Prime's electric, fire, and ice forms, respectively. And Manny was still protecting Tom. That left Albert and Umanda the task of guarding the others. Albert was a natural at this. And not just because of his Reflect ability – he was also a born distracter. He convinced the Metroid Prime that his psychic attacks were doing damage to it even though they weren't; he also acted extra-annoying for good measure. The Metroid Prime targeted him, but he simply kept Teleporting away from its reach. Umanda had a… different method. She jumped right up to the Metroid Prime's eyes and attacked them. I'm pretty sure she couldn't hurt them – they were behind a thick plate of armor – but she certainly helped blind the creature. Charlie's Smokescreens helped in that area, too. Sadly, she only got to try this once before Mewtwo knocked her out. That's when Tom got off of Manny to let him join the fight. Manny grabbed the Metroid Prime's legs to immobilize it while other Pokémon attacked.

The fight raged on. Mewtwo knocked Umanda and Gengar out of the battle. But the Metroid Prime had yet to take down anyone other than Jeffrey. This was mostly because it never targeted a single Pokémon for a long enough time to make it faint – it kept switching between them. All of Tom's Pokémon got hurt in the battle against the Metroid Prime, some of them quite badly, but none of them fainted. It was really Tom's team at their very best.

* * *

"Hunter, you do remember _why_ every attack you hit me with is worthless, right?" said Mewtwo. "Because just in case you don't, here's a little reminder."

A moment later, Mewtwo was hidden behind a bright, blue, opaque shell of Phazon. Samus fired at the shell with every weapon she had, but nothing penetrated it. Several seconds later, the Phazon shell disappeared, revealing a Mewtwo who appeared to have never experienced all of the fighting in the past few minutes. "Good as new," Mewtwo said. "But you're not. No matter how much you hurt me, I can always use Recover – but you can't. How does that make you feel?"

It made her feel exactly how she already felt throughout this whole battle: desire to kill the monster before her. She fired both Plasma Beam and Ice Beam shots at him, but he swatted them away with his bare hand. So Samus entered Hyper Mode again. Now Mewtwo was creating a ball of Phazon above him. Samus fired at him, and he dodged her fire as the Phazon ball continuously grew larger. Then, to Samus's surprise, Mewtwo stopped dodging at all. Instead, he used the Phazon ball to block all of Samus's fire. After a few shots into it, Samus realized that this ball was absorbing these shots, growing even larger with each one. She stopped firing and exited Hyper Mode, uncertain of what to do next. Phazon from the ground, the walls, and the ceiling was now seeping out to help build up this increasingly large ball. Before Samus knew it, the Phazon ball was enormous; Mewtwo, below it, was tiny in comparison. Samus had no idea how much this ball could hurt her, but she wasn't eager to find out. "WEAVILE, NOW!"

"Don't tell me…" Mewtwo began, but a Dark Pulse to his face cut him off. The Phazon ball shrunk dramatically, although it did not disappear. Furious, Mewtwo looked at Weavile below him; she had come to the scene as fast as she could, and fortunately, that happened to be very fast. Suddenly, the fluid ball above Mewtwo turned into a group of solid rocks; just as quickly, the rocks were flying at Weavile. They knocked her down and pierced her skin, and when she got up, she was covered in blood – but still conscious. Mewtwo and Weavile got ready to attack again.

That's when Tom gave the signal. "SAMUS, SWITCH!" he yelled.

* * *

The Metroid Prime crashed into a wall, fell down, and stopped moving. Tom knew what was coming next; Samus had told him about the core. But that didn't stop him from being taken by surprise when _something_ popped out of the Metroid Prime's black shell. The only similarity it had to the creature Tom's Pokémon had just fought against was its red eyes. It looked like a large, solitary red brain with long, thin tentacles, and surrounded by a blue liquid. Tom knew that his Pokémon had no chance against this thing – only Phazon-based attacks could harm it. That's why he and Samus had planned ahead. "SAMUS, SWITCH!" he yelled as loudly as he could.

Mewtwo was irritated that his fight against Samus would once again be interrupted; this time, however, the interruption would be permanent. Weavile was joined by the five other remaining Pokémon – all of Tom's team except Umanda – to surround Mewtwo and attack him all at once. Meanwhile, Samus ran away from Mewtwo to confront the core of the Metroid Prime.

Mewtwo was furious when he realized what was going on. "Get back here, Hunter! This was _our_ fight!" he shouted. He blasted out of the circle of Pokémon and flew toward Samus, but that only allowed a barrage of elemental attacks to hit his back. He turned around and quickly picked a target: Weavile, whom he'd been battling before the others attacked. It wasn't hard – a few more blue rocks to the face and she was a goner.

* * *

Samus found that this Metroid Prime was really no different from the one she'd fought on Tallon IV. So the fight was more or less the same: she'd fire on it with Phazon while it would try to attack her with its tentacles. This time, however, she had a new advantage: she could enter Hyper Mode at will. Last time, she could only gather Phazon from the shallow pools that the Metroid Prime occasionally spat out. This time, however, she could use those pools to regain some of her lost energy; and by entering Hyper Mode, she had all the Phazon she'd need at any time she needed it.

* * *

Albert was a particularly big nuisance for Mewtwo; whenever Mewtwo chose a target to attack, Albert would appear right in time and Teleport said target away. So Mewtwo targeted Albert. It took a few tries, but then Mewtwo ensnared Albert in a rope of Phazon. Trapped, Albert could do nothing while Mewtwo attacked and attacked until Tom was forced to withdraw him.

By this point, Mewtwo had taken a lot of damage. He'd used his speed and Phazon barriers to avoid as many attacks as possible, but that wasn't enough to avoid all of them, and there'd been many attackers. That wasn't much of a problem for Mewtwo, though. He merely entered his shell for a few moments, used Recover, and emerged from it as good as new.

Now there were only three Pokémon fighting Mewtwo – Manny had decided to stand back in order to protect Tom. At Tom's orders, Kim used Outrage; she became enveloped in golden flames and began tackling Mewtwo with incredible speed and strength. Mewtwo was actually put on the defensive for once; all Charlie and Ralph had to do was watch. The first wave of Outrage ended, and Mewtwo had an opportunity to attack. But he never used it, because at that moment, Ralph did what may be the gutsiest thing I'd ever seen him do: he jumped onto Mewtwo's back, held onto it, and used Static Battlefield. The attack's power was intense, but it didn't last long before Mewtwo managed to shake him off. Mewtwo ignored Kim and Charlie while he angrily pummeled Ralph without holding back. Soon, Tom was forced to withdraw him, too.

Kim came at Mewtwo again, and Charlie now backed her up. Mewtwo was once again on the defensive against Kim, blocking her attacks with his fists while simultaneously trying to dodge Charlie's fire. When Kim's second wave ended, Mewtwo didn't hold back. He ignored Charlie and blasted Kim with all varieties of Phazon and psychic attacks until she was no longer conscious. Tom withdrew her, leaving only Charlie to face Mewtwo.

The purpose of this fight was not to defeat Mewtwo, but to delay him so that Samus had time to kill the Metroid Prime. So rather than attacking Mewtwo, Tom ordered Charlie to merely annoy him with half-hearted attacks while using most of his energy to dodge. At this, Charlie was very effective, and within a minute Mewtwo was shaking with rage at his inability to bring down this speedy Charizard. Finally, he managed to get a rope on Charlie, similar to the one that had immobilized Albert. But while Albert possessed great psychic power, Charlie was more physically powerful than him, and more agile as well. He flew in circles around Mewtwo despite being essentially tethered to him. It took almost another minute before Charlie finally fainted.

Mewtwo disappeared behind a blue shell to Recover once more. Tom, who was standing behind Manny, looked at him nervously. "It's just you now," he whispered. Without taking his eyes off of Mewtwo, Manny nodded.

"Hurry up, Samus," Tom whispered to himself. He turned his head to take a peek at her battle with the Metroid Prime. Joy flowed through him when he saw that she had won – the Metroid Prime was no longer there. However, this joy turned into confusion when he saw that, while the Metroid Prime wasn't there, something else _was_.

* * *

The fight was so easy that Samus was almost bored. On Tallon IV, the hard part had been getting to the Phazon deposits in time, but now that was no longer an issue. Samus fired away almost nonstop at the Metroid Prime, and there wasn't much it could do to defend itself. It did turn invisible sometimes, but thanks to Samus's variety of visor settings, this wasn't a problem for her.

When the Metroid Prime lost control of its own body and began flailing its tentacles all over the place, Samus knew she had won. But what came next took her completely by surprise. The core of the Metroid Prime was transforming. It was so fast that Samus barely had time to process this fact. Before her there now floated a large, bluish, spiky orb. The orb was mostly transparent, and Samus could see the amoeba-like blob inside. "An X Parasite!" Samus gasped.

Samus didn't have time to wonder what the hell this was all about; she only had time to attack. Missiles were her weapon of choice; she hadn't gotten much of a chance to use them until now, so she had plenty to spare. The spiky orb attempted to ram into Samus, but she was too fast for it. Once Samus had hit it with enough missiles, the orb shattered, leaving the yellow-green blob inside unprotected. Samus ran towards it.

* * *

Mewtwo finished Recovering just in time to see the X Parasite seeping into Samus's armor through the corner of his eye. He turned to face the scene, and as he realized what was going on, his eyes widened. "No!" he gasped.

Actually, yes. Samus completely absorbed the X Parasite. For a moment, Mewtwo stared, and Samus stared back. Then Samus became the brightest thing in the room; all of the crevices in her armor shone with a powerfully bright, blue glow. Samus felt like she was literally about to burst; she couldn't contain this much energy. She aimed her Arm Cannon at Mewtwo. Mewtwo stretched both arms in front of him. Then both of them attacked.

Samus was awestruck by the constant, powerful beam of Phazon that rushed out of her Arm Cannon. She could barely control it; the energy was forcing itself out, like water out of a hole in the bottom of a cup. From Mewtwo's arms came a beam of equal width and, apparently, equal power. The two beams met in the middle – and that's when things really started to escalate. The two beams pushed against each other, creating a ball of Phazon in the middle. The ball got bigger and bigger. Samus tried to push the Phazon out of her faster; so, apparently, did Mewtwo. Soon, the size of the two forces pushing against each other was so incredible that the whole room actually began shaking. Manny led Tom further away from the scene to stay safe.

Neither Samus nor Mewtwo budged. But soon they had to start backing up, for the Phazon between them had accumulated so much that there were barely beams anymore – just a huge blue sphere between them, threatening to consume the entire room. Both of them stopped moving, and the sphere, fortunately, stopped growing, but the two forces continued pushing against each other with more power than ever. Mewtwo's eyes were wide with panic; clearly, he hadn't expected anything like this. His panic became more pronounced when tiny bits of Phazon began leaving his body and floating behind him. Slowly, these particles accumulated to create a large, spherical form. Eventually the sphere developed a fluid look and, as more tiny particles came to it, grew many tentacles. Despite this, Mewtwo was still holding his ground against Samus. Neither of them had gained an advantage. And then it all exploded.

I can't say for sure what had happened. Maybe it was the result of two extremely powerful Phazon forces pushing against each other for too long; maybe it simply happened because both fighters had run out of energy. Whatever the case, the giant ball of Phazon between Samus and Mewtwo exploded, and both fighters felt the impact. Samus flew backward until she hit a wall; Mewtwo skid against the ground as if being dragged by a vehicle. Tom and Manny were safe, but just barely – had Tom been any closer, there'd probably be a hole in his suit, and possibly one in his body.

After such a long and intense struggle, the ensuing silence was uncanny. Mewtwo stood up. Samus stood up too, but it took longer – her armor wasn't cooperating with her. It was still vibrating fiercely in the aftermath of that last attack. Samus was struck with panic when she realized that her suit was slowly crumbling, No, she realized with relief, only parts of it were crumbling – which wasn't really all that relieving. Specifically, all of the PED-related parts of her armor were falling apart. Little pieces of blue-grey metal from her back and chest fell to the ground. Soon, she was back to her old Gravity Suit. Apparently, she'd used so much Phazon in that last attack that it overloaded her system – her PED Suit wasn't meant to process that much Phazon. Now she wouldn't be able to use the substance as a weapon any longer.

But Mewtwo wasn't looking at Samus. He was looking at the blue, fluid sphere, and there was terror on his face – the sphere was getting bigger. After a moment, Samus recognized it… sort of. It was a Phazon Core… sort of. It had been stripped of its shell and almost all of its features, probably so that Mewtwo could merge with it. And now that it had been forcefully separated from Mewtwo, it seemed ready to explode. The sphere expanded and expanded; its many tentacles stretched to great lengths, seeking something unknown. "No you don't!" said Mewtwo, and he thrust his open palm in the core's direction. This gesture had an immediate effect, or at least appeared to, because at that very moment all of the tentacles stopped squirming, rapidly stretched to reach the wall or ceiling, and then became still and rigid.

"That'll hold it for now," said Mewtwo. "But not forever." He looked at Samus. "I can't even express how much I hate you right now." His eyes quickly shifted from Samus to the scrap metal on the floor around her, then back. His glare grew slightly less spiteful. "Oh, I see. You've lost your ability to use Phazon too, haven't you?" Samus didn't answer – she tended not to – but Mewtwo took that as a yes. "Well, at least this battle just got a little more interesting. Honestly, that's not much of a consolation… it's pointless to stay angry at you, though, so instead I'll just be happy that you're about to die."

The fight started when both of them attacked simultaneously, as if they had agreed upon the instant to begin. Samus fired her missiles and Mewtwo used Psychic. Mewtwo tried to dodge the missiles, but they homed in on him; Samus felt the psychic force squeezing her armor, but she stood firm.

After a short while, Mewtwo learned how to use his psychic powers to redirect Samus's missiles off to the side, where they could do no harm to him. Samus always tried to dodge Mewtwo's psychic-type attacks, but despite her agility, she only occasionally succeeded. More often, they knocked her every which way and chipped away at her armor, which would glow purple for a moment. Yet she kept fighting as if nothing had happened.

Tom and Manny could only watch – from a safe distance, of course. This time, for once, the fight was very straightforward – neither fighter had any tricks up their sleeves. Mewtwo didn't dare use Recover, since that would require standing still for many crucial seconds, leaving him open to attack. He simply brain-blasted away at Samus, who rotated between weapons in order to hit Mewtwo with all of them. Eventually, she settled on the Wave Beam and Ice Beam, since these would slow Mewtwo down for a moment, leaving him briefly vulnerable. Both of them flew (in Mewtwo's case) or jumped (in Samus's case) away from each other's attacks, with varying degrees of success. Surprisingly, Mewtwo didn't talk. Perhaps he was too angry to; Samus had not only killed the fake Metroid Prime and absorbed the real X Parasite, but had pushed the Phazon Core out of Mewtwo's body and possibly mortally wounded it. He wanted her dead, fast.

But it wasn't fast. The battle dragged on. For a long while, they seemed equally matched. But I could feel the disturbance in Tom's body when he noticed an unfortunate pattern: Samus was getting tired. Her movements were getting subtly slower; she stood still for longer. Mewtwo, however, was not. The problem was, Mewtwo had a higher starting point than her. He'd recovered all of his energy after his previous fights with her and with Tom's Pokémon. The same was not true with Samus, and she had much less to lose. What she did have, she put to use magnificently – but it might not be enough.

"Getting exhausted, Hunter?" said Mewtwo, and now he didn't sound angry at all. He was really enjoying himself. He tried using Psycho Cut, which sent psychic blades flying toward his opponent, once more; Samus dodged it by jumping far to her left. Mewtwo got ready to do it again; Samus saw, from his movements, that the attack would be just a hair to her right, so she jumped left again and dodged it. He tried attacking slightly to her right again, and she jumped left again. As she jumped, a thought hit her: either she had finally found a hole in Mewtwo's fighting style, or it was a trap.

It was a trap.

Right after she landed, Samus realized that she couldn't move anything at all. Every limb was completely paralyzed. They were being held in place, tightly, by some blue tentacles. Something squishy pushed against her back. She couldn't see it, but this thing was the bloated Phazon Core. Mewtwo had lured her beside it, and then he'd unstuck some of its tentacles from the wall and made them wrap around Samus. She could feel her energy slowly depleting. The Core was literally sucking the life out of her.

Samus struggled with all her might, but it did no good. "Please, struggle as hard as you can," Mewtwo said calmly. "I want to make sure those bonds are tight enough to hold you forever. So go ahead – give it all you've got!" She did give it all she had, but it wasn't enough. Eventually, knowing it was pointless to resist, and knowing that she needed to preserve her remaining energy, she gave up and stopped struggling. In the back of her mind, she dared to wonder: was this really the end?

Mewtwo laughed and laughed. It wasn't really a maniacal, villainous laugh, though; it was more of a hearty giggle, the kind of laugh you might expect from a schoolyard prankster after his victim sits on a whoopee cushion. Once he finished laughing, Mewtwo sighed with satisfaction. "Oh, that was _good_. THAT was a battle! I must admit it, Hunter, you gave me much more of a fight than I expected. Even though you've set all of my plans back by at least a year – and that's being optimistic – it may have been worth it after all just for this fight. And I mean all of it – even the part when those pesky Pokémon got in my way. I can't believe you came so close to beating me – what a rush! Honestly, I'm very glad you came.

"But the victory is mine, and you're not off the hook. This Core might explode if it isn't given enough energy… but I think your energy will do just fine. Sorry, but I'll have to keep you here for a little while as you slowly die. Is there anything you'd like to talk about to pass the time? You don't have that much time left, so if you have anything to say, now's the time to say it."

"Hey, bud! Aren't you forgettin' about something?" said Manny.

Mewtwo turned around to see Manny in a fighting stance, fists clenched. Tom was standing right behind him. The boy turned white as the blood drained from his face. "Manny…" he whispered, and it was not the tone of a trainer talking to his Pokémon; it was the tone of a teenage boy whose best friend, perhaps even his brother, was about to make a hopeless last stand. Because there was almost no chance that Manny could make a difference here. Yet Tom understood that, as long as the odds weren't precisely zero, Manny had to try. So Tom slowly backed away to give his Machamp more room to fight.

Mewtwo looked disappointed. "Really? This is how it ends? How anticlimactic. I thought that last fight had ended this whole thing with a bang, and now you have to go and ruin that."

"Shut up!" snapped Manny, and he sprinted toward Mewtwo. Mewtwo knocked him back with a Psychic attack, then did it again with another; he then sliced Manny's chest with a pair of Psycho Cuts. Manny was bleeding, but still ran. Mewtwo quickly flew to the other side of the room and started the process again while Manny continued running toward him.

"This is sad," said Mewtwo as he attacked. "A common fighting-type really thinks he has a chance against a legendary psychic-type. How pathetic."

Manny almost caught up with Mewtwo. But before he could punch him, Mewtwo was suddenly far away again. For a moment, he stood still. "Why didn't you just run away?" Mewtwo asked. "You might have made it. In fact, if you run away now, I might give you a head start."

"Forget it!" said Manny. "No way in hell am I leaving this room until I'm a hundred percent sure that Tom will be safe!"

Mewtwo rolled his eyes. "How adorable," he said. Then he began attacking. Manny did the best he could to dodge these attacks, rolling to the side and jumping every which way. He was somewhat successful, but most attacks still hit his sides, blowing the skin away from his body there. Still, he went faster than Mewtwo expected, and as a result came very close to punching Mewtwo in the face. Without any time to spare, Mewtwo disappeared and reappeared somewhere behind Manny.

Manny now knew where the attacks would come from. When Mewtwo lifted his arms, before he even attacked, Manny shuffled sideways. Then he sprinted toward Mewtwo, whose Psychic attack missed. This time, Manny really did punch Mewtwo in the face. Mewtwo Teleported away. Manny was bleeding all over, but he stood upright and didn't look the least bit exhausted, even after all of Mewtwo's attacks. From his spot in the air, he looked down on Manny, surprised, and perhaps a little impressed.

"Interesting," Mewtwo said, tonelessly. "No mere fighting-type should be holding up this well against me."

"Oh yeah?" Manny shouted back. "And who told you that, huh? The instruction manual? 'Cuz guess what, bud – there ain't one!"

He ran toward Mewtwo. Mewtwo attacked him and flew around the room to keep Manny chasing. Manny tried to dodge the psychic-type attacks; sometimes he could, sometimes not. As he chased Mewtwo and jumped away from the attacks, Manny continued talking.

"What do you think this is, some kind of video game? You think we've all been programmed to follow these neat little rules of yours? Too bad, bud – I ain't gotta follow anyone's rules but my own. And I only got one rule: that my master _will_ be safe, no matter what. Even if it means I gotta die. But I won't die until I know he's safe! That's the only rule I'll ever have to follow!"

That's when Manny got knocked back by a particularly powerful, head-on Psychic attack. He got on his hands (all four of them) and knees, panting. He was badly wounded and covered in blood. No Machamp should have been able to take this many psychic-type attacks from Mewtwo and still be conscious, or even alive. But Manny wasn't invincible, and now he looked close to his limit, if not already there. Tom, looking on at the fight from a distance, was shivering. His eyes were dry, but I could feel the tears pushing at the edges, just waiting to come out at any moment.

Mewtwo floated above and in front of Manny. "Idiot," said Mewtwo. I think he was about to say something else, but Tom interrupted him.

"Don't give up, Manny!" Tom shouted. "You can beat him! I know you can do it!"

"Another idiot," Mewtwo sighed. He held his arms out for another attack. "Let's just get this over with."

And then Manny pounced. He must have been exaggerating how little energy he had, because it was an extremely powerful, extremely fast pounce. Mewtwo hadn't been close, but Manny had jumped all the way up to his legs in an instant. In mid-air, Manny grabbed Mewtwo's legs and threw Mewtwo downward with all his might. Mewtwo crashed into the ground. When he fell, Manny crashed into Mewtwo fists-first.

The moment Mewtwo hit the ground, Samus felt her restraints slacken. She struggled against them, but sadly, they were still too tight to escape from. But they were just loose enough to aim her Arm Cannon.

Mewtwo stood up and stepped back. "Oh, you little…" he growled, and he prepared to attack again.

But before Mewtwo could attack again, he became paralyzed by a long string of shots from Samus's electrical Wave Beam. "Manny, now!" yelled Samus.

Manny ran toward Mewtwo. The electricity wouldn't keep him still forever, so this moment was vital. This single second was likely our last hope. Our only hope.

And in that single second, something strange happened. I'm programmed to recognize it every time one of Tom's Pokémon learns a new move. That was happening now – sort of. I was receiving information that Manny had just learned a new move. However, every one of my self-regulating processes told me that it was a glitch and should be ignored. Yet, somehow, I found it hard to ignore. There was something strange about it. I couldn't even tell what move it was, or even what _type_ of move it was.

Manny stood in front of Mewtwo and pulled back his right fists. "Falcon… PUNCH!"

There was a punch. There was an explosion. It was the most powerful punch from Manny I'd ever seen – and then the tips of his fists exploded. The attack threw Mewtwo across the room. Meanwhile, Samus felt the tentacles lose their grip on her completely. She and Manny ran toward Mewtwo.

Mewtwo, lying face-up on the ground, tried to stand up. Samus stopped him with a charged Ice Beam attack. Manny furiously, and repeatedly, punched Mewtwo in the face. Samus hit him with a few missiles for good measure. Samus and Manny stopped attacking and stood over Mewtwo. He no longer tried to get back up. He barely looked like he'd be able to.

"It's over, Mewtwo," said Samus, who kept her Arm Cannon aimed at him. "You lost."

She looked into Mewtwo's eyes and noticed that they no longer looked a hundredth as menacing as before. They almost looked sad. These were the eyes of a battered, defeated Pokémon. "I… lost," he said. There was real pain in his voice.

Behind them, the Phazon Core was acting up again. It wasn't rapidly expanding, like before. It was more erratic now; it was expanding and then contracting in an unpredictable cycle. But it was slowly getting bigger, and given its increasingly unpredictable behavior, there was no telling what it might do. It could blow up at any moment, Samus realized. They had to get out of here.

Tom ran over to the others. "Tom…" Samus began, but then he was already there, standing above Mewtwo alongside Samus and Manny. Tom looked down at Mewtwo's face. Mewtwo looked back.

"There's something I'd been wondering about," said Tom. "After all you've done, I didn't understand why Oscelon and the Ancient Ones allowed you to ever be created. The Ancient Ones could have made the game developers remove you, or even if they couldn't, Oscelon could have refused to bring you to life. Anything to stop you from doing what you did. I didn't get why they let you live when you almost destroyed the universe that Oscelon was built to protect.

"But I think I get it now. Nobody foresaw any of this – because it didn't have to happen. You didn't have to use your power to try to take over Oscelon. You could have used it to help Oscelon, or to help anyone else other than yourself. Maybe that's what the Ancient Ones thought you would do. They couldn't make you, though. You were always free – you just chose the wrong game to play."

Mewtwo looked up at Tom, Manny, and Samus. "…I lost," he repeated. "I lost… and you won. Winning… losing… that is all that ever matters. And you won. Even if you die now, you still will have won. So… you… might as well live." He raised his arms.

The whole room shook violently, as if there were an earthquake. Manny instinctively held on to Tom. Samus instinctively looked around for any sign of danger. Then a huge section of wall came crumbling to the ground. When the quaking ceased, there was a great big hole in the Leviathan Seed, and we could all see the world outside through it.

Mewtwo shifted his eyes toward the Phazon Core. "I… won't be able to hold it back much longer," he said. "You must leave now. Or else you will die in the explosion."

"And just how do we know this isn't a trap?" Manny asked suspiciously.

Tom put a hand on Manny's shoulder. "Let's go," he said. "It isn't a trap."

Samus wondered what made him so sure. Then she looked behind her and saw that the Phazon Core was expanding faster than ever. "Go!" she yelled. She, Tom, and Manny all ran toward the new exit.

It wasn't a trap. Mewtwo had really let us live. Everyone ran out of the Seed just in time. The rubbly remains of the wall formed a steep slide downward; Manny grabbed ahold of Tom and then slid down with Samus. When they reached the ground, Manny let go of Tom, and all three of them began running. Once they were running away from the Seed, Samus allowed herself to look back for a moment. The growing blue ball had consumed nearly everything in the room she'd come out of – including, presumably, Mewtwo. The Core was getting ready to blow up, and without it, everything else would fall. The Seed relied on a Core to hold it together.

There were loud explosions behind us now, but no time to look back. The three of them ran and ran away from the dying Leviathan Seed. Finally, Samus decided that they'd covered enough distance and slowed down. Tom and Manny followed her lead. They all stopped, and then they turned around to face the destruction they had wrought.

The Leviathan Seed was lying sideways on the ground. Chunks of it had been blown off completely. There were no more blue patches, although we could see many geyser-like eruptions of Phazon – thankfully, it was far away from us now, because these eruptions looked powerful. After the explosions, the Seed would be inert; the Phazon would be gone.

"Is it really over?" Tom asked. He sounded exhausted, not that I could blame him.

"Mewtwo couldn't possibly have survived that," said Samus. "Yes, it's over. It's all over."

For the second time that day, her left arm acted on its own will and put itself around Tom. Manny put his head between them and wrapped all four of his arms around the two of them. Tom, Manny, and Samus stood like that for a while, watching the Leviathan Seed fall apart.

* * *

_Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe that this is almost over. After literally years of writing I was afraid I might never finish._

_Have I ever mentioned how much I love reviews? Kinda late now, but still. Even if you only have bad things to say, I want to hear it! That "post review" button down there isn't there for nothing.  
_


	38. Conclusions

Tom, Manny, and Samus were all lying on their backs. It had been a long day, to put it mildly. Tom and Samus had taken off their helmets. Manny had drunk some Potions to recover, although his body was still blood-stained. At the bottom of the crater were the remains of the Leviathan Seed, which was now completely inactive.

Above us, there was no longer a swirling spiral galaxy; instead, the sky was filled with scattered stars. This limited view of the Milky Way stemmed from the fact that we were much closer to Pocket now. As Silver Talon had explained, Oscelon – who was apparently conscious again, at last – had moved for our benefit. Thanks to this move, we would be able to get back to Pocket easily. Silver Talon had left to talk with his tribe, so now it was just us, waiting for Samus's ship. She had sent a transmission to it giving it instructions to come here, but it would take a while for the ship to receive this transmission, and then it would take a while for the ship to get here – we still weren't _that _close to Pocket. So we were stuck on Oscelon for the next couple of hours.

Now that Oscelon was so close, Samus realized, the people of Pocket would surely be able to see it. They were probably wondering what the great shadow in the sky was. They might even find out. With her ship's instructions to come here, Samus had also sent instructions to transmit a message to the government: that they were safe, and that they had succeeded. In the widespread uncertainty caused by Oscelon's appearance in the sky, this message – or information about Oscelon in general – could easily leak. Even if it didn't, someone outside of the government might pick the message up and leak it to the public. Not that she really cared.

"I can't believe it's all over," said Tom. "I can barely even remember what things were like before this past month."

"It's been strange," said Samus. "Even for me. And that's saying a lot."

"You're ones to talk," said Manny. "One month ago I was a wild Pokémon living in a cave!"

"And I was a piece of equipment sitting in a lab," I said.

They all stared at the stars in silence. "You know, um… there's still some stuff I'm confused about," said Tom. "About what happened in the Leviathan Seed."

"Like what?" asked Samus.

"Well, let's start with that thing that came out of the Metroid Prime after you killed it. What the heck was _that_?"

"That was an X Parasite. And it didn't come out of the Metroid Prime – it _was_ the Metroid Prime. Here's what I think happened. When Mewtwo wanted to merge with the Leviathan's core, he found an X Parasite inhabiting it, and to merge with the core, he had to drive it out somehow. Once driven out, the X still had the ability to mimic a Phazon Core. From what I can tell, a Metroid Prime is basically a Metroid that's merged with a Phazon Core – which means that from there, all that the parasite needed was to absorb some Metroid DNA. Mewtwo probably provided that. Usually, Metroids absorb X Parasites, not the other way around… but I suppose Mewtwo could have provided the parasite with some dead Metroid cells. And any X that's managed to infect an entire Leviathan Core is probably stronger than the typical X. So it must have used information from both the Core and the Metroid to mimic a Metroid Prime."

"Oh," said Tom, "I think I get it now. And then you did something to the parasite… what did you do?"

"I absorbed it. I've been able to do that ever since they injected me with Metroid DNA. I can absorb X Parasites, and when I do, I also absorb their abilities. Absorbing that particular X gave me a huge burst of Phazon. That's how I got the power for that huge attack afterward."

"Okay. And then something came out of Mewtwo… what was that, exactly?"

"The core of the Leviathan Seed," said Samus. "My attack literally pushed it out of him. It probably gave the Core a lethal blow, too, judging by how it acted afterward. But Mewtwo still had some control over it, so he kept it from blowing up. Until we defeated him, that is."

"Oh, so he tried to restore it by making it suck out your energy?"

"That's right. I'm pretty sure it sucked out every trace of Phazon from my body – thank God."

"There's one more thing I'm confused about," said Tom. "Manny, that last move you used against Mewtwo… what was it called, again?"

"Falcon… Punch!" said Manny, lightly punching the air for emphasis.

"Yeah, that. What the heck was that? I've never seen you use that before. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen, or even heard of, any Pokémon ever using that."

"You know what? I'm not really sure. It just kinda came to me, and I felt like it was the right move to use even though I wasn't sure what it was. Weird, huh?"

"It was a glitch," I explained. This incited some odd looks; "glitch" isn't usually a word associated with the actions of biological organisms. So I explained to them what I'd felt the moment before Manny used the so-called Falcon Punch on Mewtwo.

"All machinery these days is built to be able to detect internal errors and glitches," I added. "However, there's something significant about the fact that, even though I detected a glitch, Manny really did learn a new move. I'm tempted to speculate that I wasn't the one glitching – there was some sort of _cosmic_ glitch that allowed Manny to use that move. Think about it: Oscelon itself is like an enormous, biological machine that interprets games made in an era before automatic glitch-detecting. Somewhere in that process, a mistake may have been made, and that glitch allowed Manny to use a move that wasn't his."

"I've seen that move before," said Samus, surprising everyone. "I know the man who uses it. He's a bounty hunter too. We've crossed paths before."

"If he's from a video game, that would support my theory of a cosmic mismatch," I said.

"I think it was intentional," said Samus. "Oscelon was already awake by the time we left the Leviathan. It could have wakened itself up while Manny fought Mewtwo – or maybe even a little before then. The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence. Oscelon must have known what was happening, and it waited until the time was right and then created an intentional 'glitch' to help Manny out."

"That seems logical," I said. Being around teenagers all the time made me really appreciate a person who made any goddamn sense.

"Huh," said Manny. "Well, you know what? I didn't need Oscelon's help! I could've taken Mewtwo down without any Falcon-anything!"

"Yeah, I know," said Tom. He was being honest, too – I could always tell.

A little while later, Tom asked Samus another question.

"Samus, do you think it's safe to go back to the Seed yet?" he asked.

Samus was confused. "Why in the world would you want to go back there?"

"There's something I need to get. For Peter."

Samus remembered the dead Omega Metroid and understood. "It might be. It _should_ be, but you never know. If you're going, you better let me lead you."

"I'll come too!" said Manny.

* * *

Finally, after two hours of waiting, Samus's ship arrived.

"It's funny – I've seen this ship a lot from the outside, but until now I've never actually been inside it," said Tom.

"It's nothing exciting," said Samus. "In fact, there's barely enough room for all three of us."

"Is, um, is there a bathroom?" asked Tom.

"There is," said Samus. She'd barely finished answering when Tom sprinted toward the ship.

He'd held it in. Thank God.

* * *

Samus's ship hovered above Pocket, overlooking it. The trip to Pocket hadn't taken very long – for us. For the outside world, it had been about an hour. Right now, it was sunset in Kanto and Johto; through the window, we could see the region at the line between Pocket's light and dark halves.

"They're telling me to land at the National Park in Johto," said Samus. "I guess that's where they're waiting for us." She grabbed the controls and set the ship in motion once more.

* * *

As Samus's ship landed in the middle of the National Park, everyone inside looked out the window.

"Is the National Park… always this popular?" asked Samus.

"No," said Tom. "This, uh, this is new."

There were familiar people outside, but those were far outnumbered by the throngs of strangers. Everyone – familiar or not – was staring at the ship. "So they did find out, then," said Samus. "Interesting."

Tom and Samus had to squeeze together to fit on the platform that would take them down to the ground. It descended, and the moment it reached the ground, the whole crowd erupted in applause. Manny quickly dropped down to join us, and the applause grew even louder.

There were familiar faces all around us: the Governor, Peter, April, Jude, Opal, Tom's mother, Deoxys, Mew, and all four professors. Peter, April, Opal, and Tom's mother all ran over to embrace Tom simultaneously. That didn't do much to quiet the crowd down. Said crowd was currently being kept separate from us only thanks to several bodyguards who probably came here with the Governor. Samus walked over to the Governor and leaned in close to speak softly to him in spite of the noisy crowd.

"How much do they know?" Samus asked.

"I am not certain," said the Governor, who immediately understood what Samus meant. "At the very least, they know that you went to a distant location and defeated Mewtwo. Perhaps they know more; I have not been able to ascertain how much information has been leaked. To be honest, I do not consider it much of a concern at this point. It will all be leaked eventually. That is why I chose to meet you here, rather than at a more secretive location; it likely would not have remained secretive for long. However, I believe most of this crowd came here only out of curiosity – either when they saw us waiting here, or when they heard about it from others. Then again, many of them may have made the connection and correctly guessed who would be arriving."

Opal and Tom's mother were practically pouring buckets of tears. Peter and April were doing slightly better, but both looked a bit shaken up. Jude simply crossed his arms and watched, stone-faced.

Finally, they gave Tom his space. Peter eagerly asked, "So, are you gonna tell us what happened now, or what?"

Tom looked around at the crowd, which was now full of chatter as people talked amongst themselves. "I don't know… I'm not sure I'm comfortable talking about it with all these strangers around."

"Your things are still at the headquarters," said the Governor, which made everyone jump – nobody had noticed when he walked up next to them. "You left your backpack there, as well as the clothes you changed out of. I am about to address this crowd. If you like, while these people are focused on me, you can use the opportunity to Teleport away and have a more private conversation."

"Okay," said Tom. "C'mon, guys." He and Manny began walking around the ship to put it between himself and the crowd. Five others followed. Tom stopped and turned around to face them again. "Um, actually… Mom, Opal, I'm sorry, but… I'll tell you about it later, but Peter and April and Jude gave me their Pokémon, and I just…."

"It's okay, Thomas, I understand," said Ms. Tasby. "There's nothing wrong with talking alone with them first." Opal looked upset, but she didn't protest.

Samus hated, and I mean hated, crowds. Her least favorite kind of crowd – and unfortunately, the most common – was the kind where everyone knew who she was. Samus never sought attention and was rarely happy to receive it. This bunch weren't as bad as some she'd suffered through, but they were getting there. Already she'd heard her name shouted several times, including one "I LOVE YOU SAMUS!" and, finally, the inevitable "MARRY ME SAMUS!" It wasn't enough to make her blush – nothing ever was, really – but it almost made her want to put her helmet back on. Instead she merely stood there and sighed.

The Governor began speaking. Behind the ship, Tom released Albert (having fed all of his Pokémon Revives and Potions after the fight with Mewtwo). Tom, Manny, Peter, April, and Jude all touched Albert, and then they all disappeared.

* * *

The sky over the Lake of Rage was the same set of brilliant colors as the sky over the National Park. To the west, the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, and the sky was now dark enough that a few bright stars had already appeared. To the east, the giant full moon was already almost entirely in view. Reflections of both the sun and the moon shone in the calm lake.

Tom stood with his three friends and two Pokémon near the cabin beside the lake. Everyone let go of Albert and stepped back until they were standing in a circle. "Peter, April, you haven't done that thing I asked yet, have you?" asked Manny.

"Actually, we have," said April. "Opal has it right now."

"Really? Already? But how?" asked Manny.

"I have Gardevoir, remember?" said April. "All we had to do was get close enough for her to Teleport us there. It was even easier to Teleport back."

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" asked Tom. "Where did you go off to? What does Opal have?"

Peter was about to answer, but Manny put a hand up. "You'll find out soon enough," said Manny. "I want to surprise you with it!"

"Fine," said Tom. "Hey, guys, do you mind waiting a moment while I go change in the cabin? My clothes are in there, and I kind of miss them right now."

"My Gengar is in your suit, right?" said Jude. "Hand him over first."

Tom hesitated for a moment. "Um, I'll give everyone their Pokémon afterward, but first I'm going to…."

"No," said Jude. "Now. I want to know that Gengar is okay."

"Yeah, what's the rush, anyway?" said Peter. "That's one hell of a badass suit! I'd be trying to keep it on me for as long as possible."

April was smarter; the concern in her eyes showed that she could guess why Tom might be so hesitant. But Tom gave in. He would have to do this eventually, after all.

Tom reached into a pouch on his suit and pulled out a Pokéball, which he then tossed to Jude. "Gengar is just fine," said Tom. Jude released him to be sure, though, and found that Tom was right – his Gengar was perfectly healthy.

Next, Tom tossed a Pokéball to April. "Weavile's fine, too," he said. She believed him enough that she didn't even release Weavile. Perhaps a part of her anticipated what was about to happen next.

Now came the hard part. Tom looked Peter in the eye. Peter's eyes were eager, but full of worry too. Tom breathed deeply. "I'm sorry, Peter." With a shaky arm, he reached into his pouch and pulled out something: one of Jeffrey's claws, recovered from the fallen Seed. He held it out in his open palm. "This is all I could get back of him."

Peter stared at the claw with an intense, indecipherable face. He looked like he was about to say something, but then didn't. Slowly – very slowly – he reached for the claw and grabbed it. For a few seconds he just stared at it in his hand, his face unchanging. Then his muscles relaxed and every part of him seemed to droop at once – either because he was over the initial shock, or because he had simply given up trying to deny the implications. He finally managed to say one word, in a soft whisper: "…How?"

"He died fighting – not Mewtwo, but Mewtwo's strongest guard. He died protecting the universe – and protecting all of us."

Peter nodded. For what may have been the first time since I met him, he was at a loss for words. He couldn't take his eyes off of the claw. Then he spoke again: "Did he… fight… well?" It wasn't quite a whisper, but it was very soft and toneless nonetheless.

"Oh yeah," said Tom. "_Really _well. Without him I might not have been able to beat the Metroid Prime. Oh, the Metroid Prime, that's this thing you see, and it was in the Leviathan Seed when we got there…."

Tom explained. And explained. And explained some more. Somehow, his little story expanded until he was simply describing the entire journey through Oscelon. He was just trying to explain how Jeffrey helped defeat the Metroid Prime, but that required telling them more and more background information, which prompted more and more questions from April and Jude. Peter was silent the whole time and never took his eyes off of Jeffrey's claw. The story was simplified – otherwise we'd be there all night – but Tom made sure to focus on those parts where Jeffrey made a difference. Peter's eyes seemed to flicker for a moment whenever Jeffrey's name was mentioned; nevertheless, he was clearly only partly paying attention.

The Leviathan Seed exploded; Tom, Samus, and Manny got out safely; and the story ended. There was a brief pause. Then Tom turned back to Peter. "I'm really sorry, Peter."

"It's okay," said Peter. "He died as nobly as he could have, right?" He tried to smile, but it was a completely failed attempt, so he quickly stopped. "It's weird. I want to cry, but the t-t-tears aren't coming." As he spoke, a small sob escaped him. He sniffled. "Oh, there they are," he said, wiping his face. "I was wondering." April, with heavy concern on her face, put an arm around him.

"Hey, Tom," Peter said, "you can go change now. I need a minute to myself." He gently pushed April's arm away and then began walking towards the forest. April looked at him, then at Tom, then at Peter again. She started walking after Peter. "Peter, wait…."

Tom allowed himself to watch April catch up before he turned away and walked towards the cabin.

* * *

Tom was very happy to be back in his regular clothes. "Wow," he said after putting them on. "I actually feel normal. That's new."

There was only one hitch during that brief time in the cabin. Tom couldn't get me out. Even though he was now out of the suit, I was still in it, and only an expert of some type would be able to get me out. So Tom had to carry me – that is, carry the suit – in his arm. He didn't seem to mind. I, however, was eager to be small and manageable again.

Tom left the cabin. He stared into the woods, looking for Peter and April. He couldn't find them, so he walked alongside the forest and searched. Finally, he saw them behind a tree. Kissing. "Whoa," he said, softly. He turned away. "I have to admit. That developed faster than I expected."

Peter and April didn't seem to notice Tom, so he looked around for a distraction. That's when he noticed Jude standing by the lake. From there, we could only see his silhouette, blocking the light from both the setting sun and its reflection on the lake. Gengar was gone now, but Skarmory's silhouette accompanied Jude's. He was gently petting her. Tom walked over to them. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," Jude replied. He looked at me. "What are you carrying that around for? If you left it in the cabin it'd be easier for them to retrieve it."

"I know," said Tom, "but I can't. Not yet. Dexter's still in here, and I think I need Professor Oak to get him out."

"So like I said, why didn't you just leave it in the cabin?"

I was going to get back at him with some snark, but Tom immediately came to my defense. "Jude, Dexter saved my life today."

"Huh," said Jude, who appeared to just now remember that bit from Tom's story. He looked down at his shirt pocket, towards my brother. "Would you have done that for me, if you could?"

"What, save Tom's life?" said my brother. "That depends on if you still hate him. If you do, then certainly!"

"That's not what I meant."

"Okay, I _might_ save your life, but only if you agreed to certain conditions. Some basic hygiene would be the first one. I mean, _really_."

Jude rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you managed to spend a whole day inside one of these and come back sane," he said to Tom.

"Trust me," I said, "it bothered me much more than it bothered him."

"He's not just some cold, heartless machine, Jude," said Tom. "He's almost like a human. Yours is, too… maybe it doesn't seem like it, but it'd be more obvious if you treated him like one."

"Really?" said Jude, who sounded somewhat skeptical, but not entirely. "Hmm."

"I think we should head back now," said Tom. "You're coming with us to say good-bye to Samus, right?"

Jude stared out at the lake, patting his Skarmory's head. "No," he said, "I don't think so."

"What? Why not?"

Jude was silent for a moment, deep in contemplation. "I was never really that important," he said. "It doesn't matter much whether I'm there or not."

"What are you talking about, Jude?" Tom asked, incredulous. "You're one of the only five people who climbed up Mt. Coronet and defeated the Space Pirates there! Not to mention what you did at Mossdeep City, and the fact that the Gengar you trained helped us take down Mewtwo… you've been important the whole time!"

"I guess," said Jude. "I provided some help. But you're the actual hero here, Tom. That's what I misjudged from the beginning."

Tom opened his mouth to protest, but no words came. And Jude was already mounting his Skarmory. "Wait… where are you going?" Tom asked.

"To be on my own," said Jude. "To find out where to go from here. So… see you later. Let's go, Skarmory."

Skarmory took off before Tom had a chance to say good-bye.

"What's going on?" asked April. Tom turned around to find Peter and April standing behind him, holding hands. "Is Jude leaving without us?"

"I guess so," said Tom. "He… doesn't feel important enough to come with us, apparently. He said he wants to be on his own."

"Weird," said April.

Tom looked at Peter. "Peter, are you okay?"

Peter shrugged. "As good as I can be, I guess."

"Did you bury Jeffrey?" Tom asked.

"Not yet," said Peter. He showed Tom which pocket he was keeping the claw in. "We decided to bury it at the bottom of Mt. Coronet, next to Pachirisu. That way neither of them will be alone."

There was silence for a moment. "I think it's time to go back now," Tom said. "Samus probably won't stay much longer."

Peter and April agreed. Tom released Manny, then he released Albert. Soon, Albert used Teleport to take everyone away, and the lakeside was silent once more.

* * *

Samus was surprised by how much the Governor revealed to the crowd. He did withhold some crucial details, though, especially information about Oscelon and what it really was. Still, the crowd got the basic idea. Mewtwo was gone forever now – that's what was important to them.

Samus had hoped that the crowd would dissipate after the Governor finished talking; instead, the opposite happened. Even though the Governor told them they could leave now, people just kept coming and coming. Worse yet, Samus had to shoo off several reporters and journalists hungry for more information. The upside was that everyone now seemed to mostly be chattering amongst themselves, so their attention was no longer on Samus.

Most people were settling down in the park now, and Samus wished they would just go home. The Governor had already told her that they'd discuss payment later. The only reason she was still here was to say goodbye to the friends she'd made on this bizarre mission. While she waited, Samus leaned back against her ship, stared at the moon, and reflected.

This mission hadn't been anything like any of her past ones. It had taken a full month, for one thing. And for once, she hadn't had to do everything on her own; she had many partners, and even something of a leader. But that wasn't the half of it. Samus knew what she was now. She finally knew of the grand scheme that led to her existence. She tried to think of how much this changed – and found that the answer was: surprisingly little. Her life was still hers. No Ancient Whatevers or sentient, galaxy-sized gaming console could change that.

Still, Samus doubted that the events of the past month wouldn't have repercussions. And even if they were small, she couldn't shake the feeling that this mission would end up being turning point of some sort.

Samus was relieved to see Tom and the others reappear nearby. However, when Opal and Ms. Tasby ran over to them, she realized that it would take them a short while to get around to her. She waited patiently and watched while the group reunited.

After some light conversation, Manny turned to Opal. "So, Opal," he said, "I hear that you have… you know…."

"Oh yeah!" Opal said excitedly. She quickly put her backpack on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled something out: an egg. It was light pink, with dark grey spots, and about as large as Opal's head. Opal held it and outstretched her arms. "Here! It's yours!"

"What is that?" Tom asked as Manny carefully grabbed the egg.

Manny blinked more times than necessary as he stared at the egg. For a moment, he seemed a bit dazed, but then he snapped out of it.

"My kid," he answered.

"_WHAT?_" Tom gasped, incredulous. "When… what… how….?"

"Remember that Jynx back in the Snowpoint Temple? Turns out she liked me. A lot."

"So… so _that's_ what you've been keeping from me!"

"Yep. I told you you'd be surprised!"

For a short while, our group blended seamlessly into the crowd; we were just another bunch of excited, yet exhausted, visitors. Eventually, Tom got Professor Oak to take me out of that wretched suit and back into Tom's pocket, where I felt right at home. Then the whole group walked over to Samus and her ship. The Governor saw this, and he joined in as well. So did the professors, and Mew, and even Deoxys. Samus looked at all of the people (and Pokémon… and even the little bulge in Tom's shirt) she had come to know and respect during her stay on Pocket. Something was bugging her, though.

"Where's Jude?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure," said Tom. "He didn't want to come for some reason. He didn't think you'd mind."

"Well, he's wrong. That's too bad." Samus did mind. She had no small amount of respect for Jude, and her farewell would seem incomplete without him. Oh well. No moment is perfect, she thought.

"I suppose this is good-bye, then," said Samus.

"What's next for you, though?" asked Peter. "More missions and bad-guy-shooting and badass bounty hunter stuff?"

"Pretty much," said Samus, though that's not quite how she would have phrased it. "But things might change soon. I don't know what's going to happen, or when. Things are different now, though. Oscelon is known, and word about it will spread. None of this was part of its plan. I doubt that any new games will be brought to life – that phase stops now. And that means… that it might be time for a new phase to begin."

"What do you mean?" asked Tom.

"Like I said, I don't know what's going to happen," said Samus. "But remember: Oscelon still has a purpose to fulfill. Something's bound to happen sooner or later. And I think it's more likely to be sooner than later." Samus pressed a button on her Arm Cannon, and the lift descended from her ship.

"In other words," she continued, "we may cross paths again. So…"

Samus walked into the lift. Before it ascended, she looked at everyone, waved her hand, and said one last thing. "See you next mission."

Then Samus entered her ship. Soon it blasted off, and all we could see was its shadow gradually disappearing into the full moon.

* * *

_Author's Note: Don't let the chapter title fool you – there's still one more chapter to go!_

_I don't know whether it's frowned upon to ask for reviews, but screw it, I'm asking anyway. Please review._


	39. New Beginnings

For the next full month, nothing happened. To call it a stark contrast with the past month would be more of an understatement than saying that a Skitty is a little bit smaller than a Wailord. The two months were basically polar opposites. It was as if Tom had lived through an identical slice of two different universes.

Two things became apparent during that month. One: Tom could not keep living like this. He wasn't meant for a calm, easy life. Two: Manny could not keep living as a trained Pokémon. His current life was not meant for him, either. Both of their paths would have to change soon.

Sadly, the new path forward was different for both of them. Their time together was destined to come to a close.

* * *

It had been nine days since Mewtwo died and Samus left. Tom and Manny were in Pallet Town, sitting on the ground, leaning against the side of Tom's house. All of Tom and Opal's Pokémon were out, relaxing or playing nearby. Opal herself was in a field in front of us, playing with Jynx and Sammy. That's what they'd named the Smoochum: Sammy. Opal wanted to name her after Samus, but Manny was uncomfortable with the idea of naming his own daughter "Samus", so they compromised on Sammy. Tom and Manny were watching them play.

"She can't talk," said Manny. "I mean, she can talk like other Smoochum, but she can't talk like me. It would've shown by now. As far as I can tell, she's a perfectly normal Smoochum. None of my… condition was passed down to her. What a relief. Thank God she's not a freak like me."

"Manny!" Tom said indignantly. "Don't say that about yourself!"

"Ah, don't both trying to comfort me, Tom – you know it's true," said Manny. "There's no other Pokémon like me, and there's no other person like me. I'm different. Get over it." Tom looked like he was about to argue, but Manny put a hand in the air and snapped, "Shut up for a moment and listen to me. Do you remember the last time that Sammy actively sought me out? The last time she came over to her dad on her own? It hasn't happened in days. I'm not really 'Dad' to her, Tom, the way your mother is 'Mom' to you. Remember when I told you that Pokémon are practically born self-reliant? Well, they do stick around their parents – usually just their mother – for two days, maybe three or four maximum. After that, they're on their own, and their parents are just two more Pokémon in the herd. It's not like with humans, who form a lifelong bond with their parents. I can barely even remember my parents, to be honest. At this point, Sammy doesn't care if I stay or I leave; it doesn't matter to her. But… I don't know how _I_ feel about it. My Pokémon instincts are telling me to let her be – and maybe I should, for her sake. But at the same time, I sometimes get these weird, human urges to… I dunno, send her to preschool. Keep an eye on her 'till she's eighteen. It's not hard to suppress those feelings… but it makes me kind of sad to know that I'll never be able to do that, and I'll never be able to bond with my kid the way a real human can.

"You get what I'm saying? It's not just about speech – humans and Pokémon are very different. And I'm so in-between that I can't fit in with either of them. We should all be glad that Sammy doesn't have to be alone like I am."

"Manny… you're not alone, though," Tom softly replied. "You have me."

"Thanks, bud. I know I do."

Tom stared at the ground. I could feel his sudden sadness. I believe that this is the moment when he realized something important. Manny could not remain a trained Pokémon for the rest of his life. He was far too human.

But if he couldn't be on Tom's team… where could he go?

* * *

"Man, I'm not used to this," said Peter as he looked around at the gentle green hills of Pallet Town. "The houses are so far apart. There's so much space everywhere."

"Yeah, it's definitely nothing like Goldenrod," said April.

Tom had visited Peter and April sporadically within the past two weeks, but mostly he had just talked to them by phone. The two of them had started collecting badges again, but at a slow and easy pace. In two weeks, they'd both only obtained two badges. They both got their fourth badge at Ecruteak City, then they meandered for a while before deciding to come to Kanto. At that point, they took the Magnet Train from Goldenrod City to Saffron City, where they decided to face Sabrina – and win easily, of course. Then they'd meandered for a little while longer before Tom finally got to them and Teleported them to Pallet Town at their request.

"I don't think we'll go to another Gym for a while, though," April told Tom and Manny. "We decided that after everything that's happened, we and our Pokémon could use a little vacation."

"After we spend tonight at your place, we're gonna go up to Pewter City so I can see Brock." said Peter. "Then we'll go over to Cerulean City so April can see Misty again. After that, I dunno. We'll probably just wander around Kanto for a couple weeks and see as much stuff as we can. You're gonna come with us, right?"

"Actually, I don't know," said Tom. "Probably not."

"Yeah, that's alright, I get it," said Peter. "You got Champion duties and stuff. I know I already said this, but man, that was one hell of a battle last night!" He was referring to a televised Champion match between Tom and that girl he had once battled on the Nugget Bridge, back when he only had a single badge. Tom had won handily, of course. "Hey, Manny," Peter continued, "I was gonna ask – what the heck was that move you used against that girl's Rhyperior? You know, the explodey-punch-thingy?"

"Ah, right, that," Manny said, smiling. "That's a little secret of mine. If I told you I'd have to use it on you!" Peter instinctively crossed his arms in defense, but then tried to pass the motion off as merely scratching an itch.

"Actually, it's not about that," said Tom. "Challengers to the Champion are pretty rare, and I can quickly get back to Indigo Plateau whenever I'm needed. It's just that I want to spend more time with my mom right now. I left her for a month, and who knows when I'll end up leaving her again?"

"What, are you planning something?" asked Peter.

"Not exactly," Tom replied. "It's just… I don't know. I don't think I'll want things to stay like this for long. Sooner or later I'll want to move on."

"What do you mean?" asked April. "What is it that you don't like? Don't you pretty much have everything that you wanted?"

"I do," said Tom. "That's the weird thing. I have you guys now, and Opal, and I'm the Champion of the Pokémon League, and one of the best Pokémon trainers in the world. You'd think I'd be happy just leaving it at that. But… even though that's everything I thought I wanted, maybe I was wrong. Maybe what I really wanted was to keep working to get what I wanted. My life is basically on pause right now, and I don't think I'm okay with that. I don't just want to be – I want to go out and _do_."

"So like I said, you got a plan?" said Peter. "Thinking of anything specific?"

"Maybe," said Tom. "My point, though, is that owe it to my mom to stay here for now, because I left her for a month, and I might go a long time without seeing her again. It doesn't matter what I move on to, specifically – I just know I have to move on to something. I'll probably give up the title of Champion, too."

"_WHAT?_" Peter and April said simultaneously.

"It's just tying me down," said Tom. "I don't need or want any of these responsibilities." He saw Peter and April's incredulous faces and elaborated. "Look, I'm really glad I got to earn the Championship, but do I really need it anymore? It's just a title. I don't need that anymore to know that my Pokémon team is the best there is. We've proven that pretty conclusively."

Peter and April must have thought of this as a passing idea of Tom's that he'd eventually discard. If so, they were wrong. Most people would be happy with a calm, peaceful existence, but Tom was not most people. I could tell that, for a while now, he'd been yearning to get out and start a new adventure.

* * *

"It's been almost two months now," Tom said. "All that time ago, I left my home and started something that can't be stopped. Even though the Space Pirates and Mewtwo are gone now, I learned things about myself that I can't unlearn. There's just no going back, you know?"

"Yeah," said Manny, "I get you."

Tom and his Pokémon were on Indigo Plateau, watching the sunset. Tom and Manny were lying down next to each other. Ralph and Umanda were near Tom, and he kept alternately petting one and then the other. The other three Pokémon were less inclined to lie still. Samus left three weeks ago. Tomorrow morning, the Governor would arrive, and he'd take Tom to his office to discuss payment. Mewtwo did, technically, have a bounty on his head.

"So what're you going to do about it?" asked Manny.

"Well, there's one thing I know for sure," said Tom. "Something big is going to happen. Samus said so, but I already knew it before she did. I don't just want to pace around and wait for it to come. Whenever it happens, and whatever it is, I want to be ready for it."

"Huh," Manny replied.

For several minutes, they silently watched the sunset, as well as Charlie flying around aimlessly above them. Kim and Albert finally settled down in the grass. Then Tom gave voice to a thought that had surely been eating away at his mind for weeks.

"Manny… you can't stay on my team, can you?"

"Sorry, Tom. I don't think I can."

Tom's heart rate slowed; it was a sad thing to hear this truth confirmed out loud, even if he already knew it. "So… what are you going to do, then?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't exactly fit in with human society, and I sure as hell wouldn't fit in with Pokémon society. Someone like me doesn't have a lot of options. I've been thinking about it, though. There are people out there who do stuff that doesn't require fitting in with _any_ society. Like Samus."

"Oh, I get it. You want to be a bounty hunter."

"What? No, no, that's just an example. I'm just sayin', if there's people out there like her, who can do great stuff without fitting in anywhere, then there's hope that I can find a job like that – and a life like that – too."

"Oh. But _do_ you want to be a bounty hunter?"

"It's not a matter of wanting, Tom. Hell, are there even any bounty hunters on Pocket? I ain't ever heard of any."

"It doesn't have to be on Pocket. You can go up in space to do it, like Samus does."

Manny actually laughed. "Yeah, I'll just go fire up my spaceship right away. Nah, it's not gonna happen. Even though it _would_ be pretty cool, and I would totally be awesome at it. I gotta think more realistically. Something like bounty hunting, but, y'know, more attainable."

* * *

Most of the decisions had already been made by the time we arrived at the Governor's office. The "compensation" handed out by the government was not just for killing Mewtwo, but for every action taken in conjunction with the government to defeat the Space Pirates, too. All of the trainers involved in the multiple uprisings were being given a modest compensation for their efforts. Peter, April, and Jude were to be given much more generous compensations. And Tom and Samus were both being paid enormous sums of money for what they'd done. Due to Tom's uniquely large role in the Pocketian Space Pirate War, he was being given a small amount of leverage over his own compensation, and could demand more money if he wanted to. He had no reason to want to, though – he'd stated multiple times that he had no use for all of this money, and the Championship was a well-paying job anyway. All he had to do, then, was sign some paperwork affirming his consent, and the money would be his.

Tom and Manny looked down upon the electronic sheets on the Governor's desk. A pen was in Tom's hand, ready to sign his name. Instead, he put the pen down, looked at the Governor, and made a surprising demand. "Mr. Governor, I don't want my payment to be in money."

"Wait, what?" said Manny; this was the first he'd heard of this. The Governor merely stared quizzically at Tom, waiting for him to continue.

"It can be the same value as what you're offering me, but I think that what I'm after would be a lot easier for you to get it than for me to buy. What I really want is a spaceship."

"Wait, _what?_" said Manny, who was far more shocked by this than the Governor. "What's all this about, Tom?"

"Come on, you know what it's about. How are you supposed to become a bounty hunter without a ship?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is about _me?_ Tom, this is _your_ money! You can do whatever you want with it!"

"That's exactly what I'm doing, Manny. There's nothing I want to spend this much money on for myself, and I know that you really want this. Besides, you deserve it. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you."

"Tom, why the heck didn't you ask me about this sooner?"

"Because I know you would have been too nice to accept it. It doesn't matter, though; I'm giving it to you anyway. Do you think it can be done, Mr. Governor?"

"If you are referring to the spaceship, then yes, almost certainly. It will require more paperwork, and take some time to approve, but beyond that it should not be difficult to retrieve a Federation-owned ship in a reasonably short amount of time. However, are you certain that your friend truly wants this?"

"I am," said Tom. He looked into Manny's eyes. "You do want this, right? You said it yourself: life as a bounty hunter would fit you perfectly."

"I mean… I guess that's true, but I was talkin' hypothetically. In reality, I mean… for one thing, I don't even know how to operate a spaceship. Remember what Samus's looked like on the inside? That thing was complicated! It must take years to learn how."

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Tom. "I've heard that a lot of spaceships nowadays are controlled by A.I. devices. Right, Governor?"

"That is correct," said the Governor.

"Yeah, but how much extra would that cost?" asked Manny.

"Admittedly, artificial intelligence is not cheap," the Governor answered.

"Golly, what a dilemma," I said sarcastically. "If only we conveniently happened to have an A.I. device just lying around somewhere. That would really help us out right now."

Tom took me out of his pocket. From within his hand, I could feel his growing worry as he gradually realized where I was going with this. "Dexter, you don't mean…?"

"Of course that's what I mean. Face it, Tom: you don't need me anymore. You're possibly the best Pokémon trainer on Pocket at the moment; I think you can get by without me. Manny, however, is in much greater need of my assistance. And not only to steer his ship. Remember, Manny: I have almost limitless information and information-processing abilities at my disposal. You may be a newcomer to the world of bounty hunting, but I can help guide the way. Manny, if you really want to be a bounty hunter, I suggest that you take Tom's offer; and if you do, I suggest that you take my offer and have me installed in your spaceship."

My words were like a punch to Tom's gut. He wasn't prepared for this. Having to part ways with Manny was bad enough, but he had already accepted that. This was new information, and it all came to him at once. I'll admit that it was quite moving to realize how depressed this information had suddenly made him. He really dreaded losing me – so much so that I could see his eyes getting a little foggy.

But while Tom was still coming to terms with this second departure, Manny was finally beginning to accept the first one. "Well, you two are persuasive, I'll give you that. Maybe I should look into this some more."

I was not finished speaking, however. "Governor, do you remember what you told me before Tom and I departed for Oscelon? You said, and I quote, 'It is not typical protocol to pay a machine. However, I might be willing to make an exception in this case.' That said, however, I do not seek monetary rewards. In the form of payment, I would like some leverage over the specific design of the spaceship you will retrieve. If I'm going to have a new shell, I'd like some say over what it is, lest I end up hating it."

"That is reasonable," said the Governor. "And, unlike Mr. Tasby's request, it does not require any additional paperwork – thank goodness, for soon I will practically be swimming in it."

* * *

Do you have any idea how amazing it is to be a spaceship? Of course you don't. You're not a spaceship. Let me assure you, though, that it is amazing. Having only recently been installed, I felt around for all of my new abilities and functions, and it was a real rush; I'd never felt so powerful and so _big_.

The ship's exterior was gray and bulky, like Manny. Well, perhaps "bulky" isn't the right word; it would be more accurate to call it round. The body was separated into five heavily overlapping spheres. The ship rested on four legs – an irony which was not lost on Manny. At its bottom, a staircase could unfold to allow one to exit and enter.

Right now, the ship's interior was a bit crowded; Manny was sharing it with three other people. Over the past week, he'd said good-bye to pretty much everyone – even his old tribe in Mt. Moon. Now Tom, Peter, and April were here to say their final farewells. Today, thirty days after Mewtwo's defeat, Manny was leaving Pocket for good.

Peter was the one who had insisted on taking a look inside. He was the only one here who had never traveled in Samus's gunship. He seemed pretty excited by what he saw. "Hey, Dexter, how's your new home suiting you?" he asked.

"It certainly beats being stuck in a sweaty shirt all day," I answered honestly.

"I'm going to miss you, Dexter," said April. "You were the only one who enjoyed making fun of Peter as much as I did."

"It's been a pleasure making fun of all of you," I said. I was serious. I was really going to miss insulting these kids.

"Dexter and I will keep you all in our thoughts when we're up in space," said Manny.

"Will you come back down to see us?" asked Peter.

"Someday, definitely," Manny answered. Despite how cramped it was, he managed to wrap his arms around both Peter and April. "Till then, take care, you two! I'd tell you to stay out of trouble, but y'know, I'm kinda hoping for the opposite. Get yourselves into as much trouble as you want. I want some good stories the next time I see you!"

He let go and turned to face Tom. April had enough tact to take Peter's hand and discreetly drag him down the stairs to exit the ship. She knew that Manny was hoping for some private words with his trainer.

"I really owe you for this, buddy," said Manny.

Tom chuckled. "There's no way you'll ever owe me for anything, after all you've done for me. Honestly, I'd probably be dead now if you hadn't always been there to protect me."

"Yeah, well, I could only protect you because you taught me how. You brought me out into the world and taught me everything I know."

Tom chuckled again. "That's funny. Sometimes I think the exact same thing of you."

Manny hesitated for a moment, trying to decipher Tom's comment. Then he merely shrugged. "Let's just call it even, okay?" he said. He then put his arms around Tom, and the two of them hugged for several seconds. When it ended, Manny kept two of his hands on Tom's shoulders. "You sure you'll be alright out there without me or Dexter?"

"Yeah, I think I'll adjust."

"You figured out what you're gonna do next?"

Tom shrugged. "I have some ideas."

"Hey, that's better than none," said Manny. He took his hands off of Tom's shoulders. "Just remember, bud: life isn't all that different from a video game. The only real difference is, you don't gotta worry about any fixed rules – only the ones that you set for yourself."

"Yeah, I know," said Tom. "And unlike a game, there are no real limits on what you can do and how many places you can explore."

"Hey, he gets it! Yep, and like a game, winning or losing isn't the important thing – it's having fun on the way there. What I'm trying to say is: go out there and have some adventures, buddy. I expect to hear all about them when I come back."

"Yeah, and I expect to hear about all of the bad guys you've beaten."

They stood still for a couple of seconds. Tom seemed unable to leave the ship. For perhaps the first time in my life, I found myself overcome with emotion. "You may want to get out now, Tom," I said. "Otherwise I might end up saying something sappy about how much I'll miss you, and then I'll never be able to forgive myself."

Tom chuckled a third time. "I'll miss you too, Dexter. Thanks for everything."

Finally, Tom forced his legs to bring him out of the ship, which must have taken a great amount of willpower. When he was back on the ground, Manny appeared in the doorway. From up there, final good-byes were exchanged with everyone – including not only the three trainers, but all of their Pokémon, too. Sadly, the moment had to end now. The stairs retracted back into the ship, separating Manny from the others.

Soon Manny and I were blasting off into space. From the ground, Tom watched us gradually disappear into the clear blue sky.

* * *

That all happened a year ago.

I haven't seen Tom since then. It's too bad, frankly. I suppose that as a machine, my emotional range is more limited than that of humans, and I'll never be able to feel "love", whatever that means. But I'm fairly certain that I can feel "like". And I liked Tom. Maybe not at first, but he grew on me.

The thing is, nobody knows where he is. After Manny and I left, he simply disappeared. Even Peter and April don't know; all he told them was that he "had to leave". That was a year ago, and they haven't seen him since. Not even once.

There have been sightings, though. Every once in a while, a hiker will tell the media about seeing a boy matching Tom's description in some very remote area. Sometimes this boy is flying on a Charizard; sometimes he's crossing a river or lake on a Kingdra. Most of these sightings are concentrated in the mountain range that separates Kanto and Johto, which continues north of those regions. However, he's been sighted elsewhere too, sometimes in surprisingly distant locations.

For a while, whenever Opal was asked about Tom, she'd become unusually quiet and try to dodge the question. Then, finally, she gave in to pressure. Blushing heavily, she admitted to April that Tom would occasionally climb in through her window at night to visit her. Even she didn't know where he came from, though, or where he went afterwards – Tom refused to tell her. But he did give her some idea of what he was up to. The vague hint came when she asked him why he couldn't stay with her longer.

"Something big's going to happen," he told her, "and whenever it does, I want to be ready. The universe might need me again when it all goes down, and I'll become no good to anyone if I just stay still. That's why I need to keep moving."

Opal didn't understand what he was saying, but when April told me about it, I did. Tom's out having more adventures now, just as Manny advised.

Still, the fact is that Tom's disappearance left the Indigo League without a Champion. By default, that gave the title to the previous Champion – Jude – once more. He was happy about that, for sure.

Peter and April eventually collected all eight badges. Both of them faced the Indigo League's Elite Four, and both of them won. Peter then got to battle Jude; Jude won. The next day, April battled Jude; she lost to him too.

Rather than wait a year for a rematch, Peter and April realized that Jude was – no pun intended – out of their league, so they moved on to another league. Specifically, April moved on to the Hoenn League, and Peter moved on to the Sinnoh League. They agreed to split up so they wouldn't need to compete for the same title, which might have strained their relationship. After training for another few months, Peter emerged as the Champion of the Sinnoh League and April emerged as the Champion of the Hoenn League. In other words, all three of them are Champions now. Unlike Tom, they've all held on to the title and seem satisfied with it.

As for Manny, he did become a bounty hunter, as planned. He's even developed something of a reputation already, although he's still a beginner for the most part. He did have some missteps at first, and getting used to his new occupation took some help from Samus – and a lot of guidance from me. But that's another story.

A million thanks, by the way, to Samus. Without the many interviews she allowed me to conduct with her, half of this story would have remained untold. However, while my digital memory is flawless, Samus's side of the story is subject to the general unreliability of human memory and thus may not be one hundred percent accurate. Speaking of Samus, you're probably wondering what's become of her. I asked her at the end of our last interview, and she only shrugged and answered, "The usual stuff." That's no answer at all, of course – for Samus Aran, "the usual stuff" is as unusual as it gets, and could be pretty much anything. There's one thing I do know, however. The Federation has finally stopped acting hostile towards her and her computerized C.O. Even though the charges had been dropped a while ago, the Federation had still held a grudge; after everything that happened last year, of course, they simply couldn't keep that up any longer.

Speaking of the Federation, they're actually the reason I wrote all of this down. They wanted me to write a report on the events surrounding the Pocketian Space Pirate War, since I happened to be at the scene of so many of these events. At first, I only grudgingly started the project. Then my perfectionism took over, and I felt a need to go into more and more detail for each event. This long document is the end result. Of course, I won't be giving those fools at the Federation the entire thing – just a brief summary. Ironically, what began as their project ended up as my little hobby. I think I'll wait until everything's declassified, and – with the approval of everyone involved – sell it as a book. These days, the public's fascinated by any new piece of information about the Space Pirate War, so it should earn me a fat wad of dough. I'll share it with Manny, of course; we're basically partners now. Maybe he can buy us a new, luxurious ship. Or maybe not – I've grown to like the current one.

So what will happen next? Tom and Samus are probably right about something "big" coming up in the near future. Even so, right now Manny and I choose to be more concerned with the present. Yet the present is unstable, and without warning, another adventure may intertwine all of our paths once more. So to borrow a phrase from Samus: see you next mission.

* * *

_Final Author's Note: Holy crappoly, did I really make it to the end of this? Unbelievable._

_I do have a few things to say about this story. First of all, this is basically the first major story I've ever written. That's partly why I crave reviews so much; I need feedback going forward. If for some reason you've read this story all the way to the end, don't be afraid to tell me what you think of it._

_ This website seems to think that this story is over 260,000 words. MS Word's far more reliable word count pegs it at about 252,500 words. Either way, it's long – much longer than I had intended. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it anyway._

_If you look at the dates, you might notice that this story was completed fully three years after I put up the first chapter. Here's an in-depth explanation for that, in case you care. Back in the summer of 2009, I started writing Poketroid based on an idea that had been stirring around in my brain for about 2 years. I wrote about 8 chapters, and uploaded 6 of them, before giving up. I just didn't like anything I was writing. Not just Poketroid, but anything - I'd started a couple of other stories at that point, and hadn't even gotten as far in as Poketroid before giving up. I was 17, I had pretty much no writing experience, and it just wasn't coming to me naturally._

_Somehow, I ended getting back into writing during the summer of 2010. I figured out some of the reasons I hadn't liked my old stuff, and I set about fixing it. I went back and made a lot of changes, big and little, to the 6 chapters I put up here back in 2009. After re-writing those chapters, I picked up where I left off and spent the next two years continuously writing this thing – on and off, that is. In other words, Poketroid is the result of two years of (inconsistently) continuous writing and FIVE years (!) of it being in my head. Yeesh._

_My general sense about this story is that it started out mediocre, then gradually got better before hitting its peak somewhere between the end of the Hoenn arc and beginning of the Sinnoh arc, after which it started getting kind of slow and tedious. I might be wrong about that, though. That's the point of reviews – let me know your opinion!_

_As for a sequel – I don't know. I had plans, but Poketroid just took so much longer than I thought. I might start it eventually. It largely depends on whether or not I think anyone would actually read it._

_Okay, that's enough for now. Thank you so much for reading!_


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